The Film Thread

[Cappy]

There have definitely been occasions when I’m catching up on a lot of movies and I get the sense I’m coming across like this:

Haha. Sometimes when I’m posting long winded theories about Twin Peaks on this forum, I suspect I might come across like Greg when he’s explaining how Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the “real” Jaws 2.

Greg randomly pops up in an episode of that Shudder series Cursed Films, in the one about various controversies surrounding The Wizard of Oz. Even though he might have been doing a bit, he did convince me of that one theory regarding a performer hanging themself onscreen.

 

[AXX°N N.]

Greg randomly pops up in an episode of that Shudder series Cursed Films, in the one about various controversies surrounding The Wizard of Oz. Even though he might have been doing a bit, he did convince me of that one theory regarding a performer hanging themself onscreen.

There was this website all about that theory which was the first thing I saw on the internet when I was a kid and I was so obsessed with the quicktime vid of the supposed hanging. It was so convincing because it was maybe 240p at most and your mind filled so many visual blanks.

 

[Jordan Cole]

Was there any doubt...? Of course we are all Greg Turkington.

 

[MasterMastermnd]

Was not familiar with any of that, so I watched a few. Funny dynamic where Turkington is less overtly toxic and abusive but is just as condescending and narcissistic and seemingly chained to Heidecker as the only person who will enable his incompetence.

Also, just checked out John Hyams' cult classic Universal Soldier sequels. I would highly recommend them! The original film is a largely forgettable Roland Emmerich action movie, but Hyams takes the core concept and turns it into two brutal horror movies reminiscent of Carpenter, Cronenberg, and Chris Carter with amazing stunt choreography. It's interesting to see that old 80s-90s action movie reconceived for a post-Cold War/post-9/11 world.

 

[Tulpa]

Scott Wampler of Fangoria and Birth Movies Death fame, one of the nicest film journalists around, has died.

You may remember his brief cameo on the Dugpa forums with this tweet that sparked a lot of excitement:



But his contributions to film writing and journalism went far beyond any stray tweets. Here’s one link an interview with Trent Reznor about the Part 8 interlude:

ARTICLE - Trent Reznor On TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN PART 8, Five Years Later

Good interview. I don’t think I’d heard that "The Nine Inch Nails" thing came from the announcer messing up his line reading before! https://www.fangoria.com/original/trent-reznor-on-twin-peaks-the-return-part-8-five-years-later/ "Here's something I believe: the summer of 2017, wherein David...

tulpaforum.com

Tributes have been pouring in from across the film and horror community





Obituary by The Wrap below:

Scott Wampler, Podcaster and Film Writer Known for 'The Kingcast,' Dies

Scott Wampler, a film writer and podcast known for cocreating and cohosting The Kingcast, died on Friday.

www.thewrap.com

 

[Ickles]

Scott Wampler of Fangoria and Birth Movies Death fame, of the nicest film journalists around, has died.

You may remember his brief cameo on the Dugpa forums with this tweet that sparked a lot of excitement:



But his contributions to film writing and journalism went far beyond any stray tweets. Here’s one link an interview with Trent Reznor about the Part 8 interlude:

ARTICLE - Trent Reznor On TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN PART 8, Five Years Later

Good interview. I don’t think I’d heard that "The Nine Inch Nails" thing came from the announcer messing up his line reading before! https://www.fangoria.com/original/trent-reznor-on-twin-peaks-the-return-part-8-five-years-later/ "Here's something I believe: the summer of 2017, wherein David...

tulpaforum.com

Tributes have been pouring in from across the film and horror community





Obituary by The Wrap below:

Scott Wampler, Podcaster and Film Writer Known for 'The Kingcast,' Dies

Scott Wampler, a film writer and podcast known for cocreating and cohosting The Kingcast, died on Friday.

www.thewrap.com

That’s a real bummer. He was a really nice and funny dude.

 

[Dom]

Another little gem from Francis Ford Coppola: some material from Al Pacino's auditions for the role of Michael Corleone from The Godfather.

 

[Cappy]

I would love to see Dean Stockwell’s audition for Michael Corleone, ha.

On a Godfather related tangent, does anyone ever wonder what kind of career John Cazale might have had, had he not passed away in 1978? My gut feeling is that he might have experienced a downturn in the 80s with some roles in forgettable comedy films before going back to theatre work.

It’s fun to imagine him turning up on The Sopranos, had he lived. He basically created the character template for Uncle Junior’s insecure mafioso with his work as Fredo Corleone, but I wouldn’t want to see anyone other than Dominic Chianese in that role. But perhaps Cazale could have elevated some of the smaller roles with his talents — maybe as Chris and Tony B’s retired Uncle Pat from the later seasons, as I think Cazale bares a resemblance to both Michael Imperioli and Steve Buscemi, albeit in different ways.

And if there was ever an 80s Green Lantern film created in a similar vein as the live action Masters of the Universe, John Cazale would have been perfect as a sniveling Sinestro with comedic undertones.

 

[LateReg]

I would love to see Dean Stockwell’s audition for Michael Corleone, ha.

On a Godfather related tangent, does anyone ever wonder what kind of career John Cazale might have had, had he not passed away in 1978? My gut feeling is that he might have experienced a downturn in the 80s with some roles in forgettable comedy films before going back to theatre work.

It’s fun to imagine him turning up on The Sopranos, had he lived. He basically created the character template for Uncle Junior’s insecure mafioso with his work as Fredo Corleone, but I wouldn’t want to see anyone other than Dominic Chianese in that role. But perhaps Cazale could have elevated some of the smaller roles with his talents — maybe as Chris and Tony B’s retired Uncle Pat from the later seasons, as I think Cazale bares a resemblance to both Michael Imperioli and Steve Buscemi, albeit in different ways.

And if there was ever an 80s Green Lantern film created in a similar vein as the live action Masters of the Universe, John Cazale would have been perfect as a sniveling Sinestro with comedic undertones.

Man, great question. All I can say is that I tell the John Cazale story to a lot of people. Very sad, but also astounding that he was only in five movies -- and they're all 5-star movies. I can totally see the scenario you describe, but at the same time, maybe he would have remained very selective and continued to work with only directors of the caliber of Coppola and Lumet? Worked more with Streep? Who knows, maybe he would have been in one of Cimino's later flops and that might have derailed his career to some degree. At any rate, seems like he was a wonderful, soulful man and that comes across in his sensitive, heartbreaking performances.

While I got you here, I think you remarked some pages back that Coppola is a director who you'll watch everything by, despite never equaling his two masterpiece Godfather films. I'm of the mind that Coppola is definitely in the running for the best four-film stretch in filmdom, and maybe holds the title the best four-film run of any American filmmaker. So I took note that you singled out only The Godfathers... my immediate thought was that The Conversation is my personal favorite of his films, and Apocalypse Now my personal best! Nothing against The Godfather - his most perfect movie - or The Godfather Part II - his richest movie - but I'd say it's that insurmountable block of four masterpieces upon which his reputation was truly formed.

But I definitely agree, he's always worth watching, but not always operating at the level of those 1970s films. One thing I hadn't mentioned when I dared to defend Twixt is that the movie sees the director returning home again (literally, as it was shot on his property) to his roots. His first movie was low-budget horror, so while it may seem like a drastic fall-off from his 1970s heyday, Twixt still represents the director as he has always been, as erratic and willful and occasionally brilliant as ever.

 

[Cappy]

Man, great question. All I can say is that I tell the John Cazale story to a lot of people. Very sad, but also astounding that he was only in five movies -- and they're all 5-star movies. I can totally see the scenario you describe, but at the same time, maybe he would have remained very selective and continued to work with only directors of the caliber of Coppola and Lumet? Worked more with Streep? Who knows, maybe he would have been in one of Cimino's later flops and that might have derailed his career to some degree. At any rate, seems like he was a wonderful, soulful man and that comes across in his sensitive, heartbreaking performances.

While I got you here, I think you remarked some pages back that Coppola is a director who you'll watch everything by, despite never equaling his two masterpiece Godfather films. I'm of the mind that Coppola is definitely in the running for the best four-film stretch in filmdom, and maybe holds the title the best four-film run of any American filmmaker. So I took note that you singled out only The Godfathers... my immediate thought was that The Conversation is my personal favorite of his films, and Apocalypse Now my personal best! Nothing against The Godfather - his most perfect movie - or The Godfather Part II - his richest movie - but I'd say it's that insurmountable block of four masterpieces upon which his reputation was truly formed.

But I definitely agree, he's always worth watching, but not always operating at the level of those 1970s films. One thing I hadn't mentioned when I dared to defend Twixt is that the movie sees the director returning home again (literally, as it was shot on his property) to his roots. His first movie was low-budget horror, so while it may seem like a drastic fall-off from his 1970s heyday, Twixt still represents the director as he has always been, as erratic and willful and occasionally brilliant as ever.

I’m tempted to say that Hitchcock had a perfect four film streak with Vertigo/North by Northwest/Psycho/Birds, but I admittedly don’t love his espionage flicks, in spite of all the thrills and charms of NBN. So I guess I might agree with you on Coppola having a perfect four film streak.

And apologies if I came across as short changing Conversation and Apocalypse — they are both great films, but I suppose I don’t get a lot from them in terms of my own personal and subjective experience with them. Apocalypse is a technical and aesthetic masterpiece, just pure, total cinema — it just doesn’t teach me anything new about myself or my world in the way that the Godfather films do. In many views I’d agree that Apocalypse is objectively better though, but it lacks a real human core for me to latch onto.

And I haven’t seen Conversation in about 20 years at this point, but I remember really enjoying it. Hackman was awesome during that era, from Bonnie and Clyde to this and Scarecrow and Night Moves…

And getting back to Cazale, the main reason I speculated he would have a career downturn in the 80s is simply because quite a few of the big 70s actors (Pacino, Burt Reynolds, Travolta, etc) seemed to experience that — although Cazale wasn’t exactly on a similar level as them, and could’ve potentially coasted through the decade with loads of memorable small roles in big pictures.

 

[LateReg]

I’m tempted to say that Hitchcock had a perfect four film streak with Vertigo/North by Northwest/Psycho/Birds, but I admittedly don’t love his espionage flicks, in spite of all the thrills and charms of NBN. So I guess I might agree with you on Coppola having a perfect four film streak.

And apologies if I came across as short changing Conversation and Apocalypse — they are both great films, but I suppose I don’t get a lot from them in terms of my own personal and subjective experience with them. Apocalypse is a technical and aesthetic masterpiece, just pure, total cinema — it just doesn’t teach me anything new about myself or my world in the way that the Godfather films do. In many views I’d agree that Apocalypse is objectively better though, but it lacks a real human core for me to latch onto.

And I haven’t seen Conversation in about 20 years at this point, but I remember really enjoying it. Hackman was awesome during that era, from Bonnie and Clyde to this and Scarecrow and Night Moves…

And getting back to Cazale, the main reason I speculated he would have a career downturn in the 80s is simply because quite a few of the big 70s actors (Pacino, Burt Reynolds, Travolta, etc) seemed to experience that — although Cazale wasn’t exactly on a similar level as them, and could’ve potentially coasted through the decade with loads of memorable small roles in big pictures.

Yeah, I totally understand what you mean re: your personal and subjective experience with those films. Makes total sense. I was mainly just pointing out how interesting it was that you had singled out such monumental films and it was still possible that he had made two others of such great quality that someone else might just as easily cite!

For the record, I specifically noted Coppola having the best four film stretch of any American filmmaker... I've always thought that Hitchcock (for the stretch you've noted), Tarkovsky, and Kubrick were the other obvious candidates. In the past, I've looked up many others - including Godard and Bresson and Kurosawa - and there's always one slightly lesser, less impactful, less renowned film in the sequential mix. Dreyer might be the fifth candidate if you don't count his 1945 film Two People, which he is said to have disowned.

 

[Dom]

Amazon Prime Day(s)...

I'm so classy: I've bought the entire Milla Jovovich Resident Evil film series on Blu-ray for about £10 (I've only seen four of these guilty pleasures and that was on DVD) and a Blu-ray boxset of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. I'll probably knock off some reviews at some point, as I haven't tackled a horror series in a while. Unfortunately, the Halloween series is either out of print in the UK or in several cases has never even had physical home video release. I've been working on a graphics-heavy job for a few weeks and, as a person prone to severe migraines, haven't been watching much of late or posting much when I'm not working.

I'm tempted to blind buy Kevin Costner's Open Range on Blu-ray and contemplating Gladiator 4K, although I hear the most recent Blu-ray is excellent quality too. My attitude to 4K is that I buy specific types of films on 4K, generally epics or low budget films that are shot on celluloid and need decent grain management, but in many cases, Blu-ray is fine. It might not strictly be as good as 4K, but with a current 43-inch TV, 4K is still very much about future-proofing!!

I watched A Quiet Place the other night and really enjoyed it. My local charity shop sells Blu-rays at £1.50 each (approx. $1.96), but they're buy-one-get-one-free, so essentially it was 75p (approx. 98¢)!! I bought it along with the ridiculously silly Drag Me to Hell. Because Blu-ray was designed with a coating that prevents serious disc damage, it's always worth taking a punt on a secondhand Blu-ray disc. I've picked up loads for absurdly small amounts of money!

I see A Nightmare on Elm Street is getting the Warner 4K steelbook treatment in the UK. No date confirmed yet. Actually rather disappointed by this: I was hoping for a 4K set from a boutique label that also included all the sequels. I'm concerned we'll end up with just the MPAA cut version and nothing I've seen in the package merits the price tag of £44.99 (approx. $58.66) I'm leaving the pre-order active, but suspect I'll cancel it nearer the time. It's sad that New Line's owners (Warner Bros Discovery) don't really show much love for the series. Most people involved in the company have (been) moved on, so rather than New Line being 'The House that Freddy Built', the series is treated as a slightly embarrassing bunch of 1980s slasher flicks. I mean, the fact that Warner Home Video had to ask if people wanted to see the film released on 4K shows how little they understand the impact of the series. We should have had a boxset of the seven films, Freddy vs Jason and even an 'ultimate set' with the complete Freddy's Nightmares upscaled to HD. Rereleasing the novels, comics and novelisations for the 40th anniversary would have been nice too...

 

[krishnanspace]

I just bought some movies today during Prime day . I recently started collecting 4K movies . This is my current collection: https://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?u=477099

I can see Barnes and Nobles having 50% off on the criterion collection. None of them are delivering before my friends comes to India. Will have to wait for another time

 

[Cappy]

Amazon Prime Day(s)...

I'm so classy: I've bought the entire Milla Jovovich Resident Evil film series on Blu-ray for about £10 (I've only seen four of these guilty pleasures and that was on DVD) and a Blu-ray boxset of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. I'll probably knock off some reviews at some point, as I haven't tackled a horror series in a while. Unfortunately, the Halloween series is either out of print in the UK or in several cases has never even had physical home video release. I've been working on a graphics-heavy job for a few weeks and, as a person prone to severe migraines, haven't been watching much of late or posting much when I'm not working.

I'm tempted to blind buy Kevin Costner's Open Range on Blu-ray and contemplating Gladiator 4K, although I hear the most recent Blu-ray is excellent quality too. My attitude to 4K is that I buy specific types of films on 4K, generally epics or low budget films that are shot on celluloid and need decent grain management, but in many cases, Blu-ray is fine. It might not strictly be as good as 4K, but with a current 43-inch TV, 4K is still very much about future-proofing!!

I watched A Quiet Place the other night and really enjoyed it. My local charity shop sells Blu-rays at £1.50 each (approx. $1.96), but they're buy-one-get-one-free, so essentially it was 75p (approx. 98¢)!! I bought it along with the ridiculously silly Drag Me to Hell. Because Blu-ray was designed with a coating that prevents serious disc damage, it's always worth taking a punt on a secondhand Blu-ray disc. I've picked up loads for absurdly small amounts of money!

I see A Nightmare on Elm Street is getting the Warner 4K steelbook treatment in the UK. No date confirmed yet. Actually rather disappointed by this: I was hoping for a 4K set from a boutique label that also included all the sequels. I'm concerned we'll end up with just the MPAA cut version and nothing I've seen in the package merits the price tag of £44.99 (approx. $58.66) I'm leaving the pre-order active, but suspect I'll cancel it nearer the time. It's sad that New Line's owners (Warner Bros Discovery) don't really show much love for the series. Most people involved in the company have (been) moved on, so rather than New Line being 'The House that Freddy Built', the series is treated as a slightly embarrassing bunch of 1980s slasher flicks. I mean, the fact that Warner Home Video had to ask if people wanted to see the film released on 4K shows how little they understand the impact of the series. We should have had a boxset of the seven films, Freddy vs Jason and even an 'ultimate set' with the complete Freddy's Nightmares upscaled to HD. Rereleasing the novels, comics and novelisations for the 40th anniversary would have been nice too...

One piece of Freddy media I’d like to see unearthed for the public: Peter Jackson’s script for “Dream Lover”, which I think was scrapped in favor of “Freddy’s Dead”.

I like Freddy’s Nightmares. It looks so bad that it’s distracting, but there are some interesting ideas floating around in that series.

 

[Dom]

One piece of Freddy media I’d like to see unearthed for the public: Peter Jackson’s script for “Dream Lover”, which I think was scrapped in favor of “Freddy’s Dead”.

Jackson had a couple of ideas floating around that were great. I love the one where Freddy's a weak, powerless old man living in the dreamworld version of Nancy's old house. Teens take sleeping pills so they can travel over to the house in their dreams and beat him up. But one day one of the kids accidentally falls on Freddy's claw and gets himself killed, giving the old man a new shot of energy. It's daft, but loaded with potential. I wish they'd gone with that one rather than Freddy's Dead.

Once the series films finished (I consider the 'series' films to be 1, 3, 4, and 5, which form a complete, semi-coherent story with a beginning, middle and end) there was a good opportunity for some 'anthology' films which could try different ideas outside of the rest of the continuity. Part 2, Freddy's Dead, New Nightmare and Freddy vs Jason all fall into that 'anthology' category for me - almost entries in a filmic equivalent of 'The Mammoth Book of Freddy Tales!' I'd love to see a reality-warping explanation for how the setting of the series moved from California in the first film to Ohio in the subsequent films!

I like Freddy’s Nightmares. It looks so bad that it’s distracting, but there are some interesting ideas floating around in that series.

I've not seen many of them, but the ones I watched were thoroughly bonkers!! Never Sleep Again whetted my appetite for more.

 

[Jordan Cole]

Scott Wampler of Fangoria and Birth Movies Death fame, one of the nicest film journalists around, has died.

Well this is surreal for me.

So back in April and May I scored the podcast theme song for Scott Wampler's show The Spiel (about Spielberg.) I didn't interact with him, but through the co-host, but was told Scott loved my music. I had no idea it was The Scott Wampler, and I had totally missed the news of his passing, which seems to have happened a week or two after I submitted the final theme song.

The show launched last week and I was tweeting and celebrating before I stumbled across all of the RIPs. I had NO idea. Talk about being out of my own loop.

 

[MasterMastermnd]

Absolutely loved the movie Longlegs. I keep calling it Millenniumistic but since nobody has seen that show nobody gets what I mean. Diseased piece of work, and I love stories about grand designs from the Forces Beyond bearing down on a protagonist and perhaps dooming them (any surprise, given what this board is primarily devoted to?)

 

[Cappy]

Yeah I loved Longlegs too. I honestly was so mesmerized by it that I forgot that was Nicolas Cage for a bit!

 

[Dom]

Arrow Films just cost me a lot of money...

They announced their October slate... Exorcist II: The Heretic Blu-ray Limited Edition, Exorcist III UHD Limited Edition, Trick'r'Treat UHD Limited Edition and the J-Horror Rising Blu-ray Limited Edition box set, comprising Shikoku, Isola: Multiple Personality Girl, Inugami, St John's Wort, Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman, Persona and Noroi: The Curse.

I'm one of those perverse people who loves Exorcist II: The Heretic. I separate it from the original film (which I consider to be one of the greats and is one of my favourite films of all time) and treat it for what it is: a demented sci-fi/dark fantasy mashup. There are hints of John Boorman's later Excalibur in this film and it'll be interesting to see the other cuts. I originally saw the shorter theatrical cut on VHS, then owned the longer cut on DVD. There's never been a UK Blu-ray release before and this set appears to have three versions.

I already own Exorcist III on Blu-ray, but a 4K edition of any of the William Peter Blatty-written/directed Exorcist films is a must-buy! I wish the Legion materials could be found in full quality, but it'll be nice to have any version of it.

Trick'r'Treat is great fun. I saw its UK premiere at FrightFest back in the day. We were all gutted to hear it wouldn't get a cinema release. Worse, it was straight-to-DVD in the UK. No Blu-ray. I actually have a Blu-ray disc, unpackaged, so I'll put it in the case with the UHD, as Arrow don't usually put Blu-rays in the package with UHDs.

The J-Horror Rising Blu-rays are a mix of things I have seen, haven't seen or wanted to see during the early 2000s J-Horror boom. I'm a sucker for Japanese ghost stories. I own a nice collection of Lafcadio Hearn stories and have films going back to the 1960s telling various of his collected fairytales. Kwaidan is a favourite!

An expensive haul at over £100, but I'm looking forward to October!!

 

[Jordan Cole]

I want to see LongLegs but I hated this director's previous film Blackcoat's Daughter so much, that I'm going in extremely skeptical.