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Bogie56

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Posts posted by Bogie56

  1. Recalling that Roddy Piper was from Saskatoon I thought maybe it is time to campaign for films with a Canadian slant for Canada Day, next July 1, 2016.

     

    Let's see, we have Roddy Piper, Norman Jewison, Marie Dressler, Walter Pidgeon, Mary Pickford, Fay Wray, Walter Huston, John Candy, Glenn Ford, Deanna Durbin, Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner, Martin Short, James Cameron, Michael J. Fox, Keanu Reeves, Norma Shearer, Christopher Plummer, Donald Sutherland, Leslie Nielsen, Laura Linney, Chief Dan George, Graham Greene, Gary Farmer, David Cronenberg, Hume Cronyn, Yvonne De Carlo, Brendan Fraser, Alexis Smith, Genevieve Bujold, Barry Pepper, Catherine O'Hara, Jim Carrey & Mike Myers (but be selective!), Ellen Page, Anna Paquin, Bruce Greenwood, Raymond Massey, Ivan Reitman, Kate Nelligan and Raymond Burr.

    • Like 1
  2. If you happen to be in London on Sunday, September 20th you may want to go to the BFI Southbank's screening of Trog (1970).  It is being introduced by none other than director, John Waters.

    Looks like a lot of fun.  Waters is getting a BFI retrospective.

    The BFI guide describes Trog as .."one of the most ludicrous, touching, mind-boggling star vehicles ever.  Joan Crawford, desperate for a job, teams up with director Freddie Francis (!) and an actor in a pitiful monkey mask for a sci-fi howler like no other.

  3. Two films I had been hoping to catch again on TCM were both shown recently in cut versions:  The Strawberry Statement, and Last Summer.  In the case of the first, TCM aired a broadcast TV print that had any objectionable dialogue muted, along with a brief shot of nudity excised.  For Last Summer, they screened the PG version and not the R original version (re-rated to R from the original X version).

     

    What's so frustrating about situations like these is that TCM prides itself on it's high-falutin' claims of always showing films uncut and in their original versions...and then they repeatedly make these screw-ups time after time again.  In the case of Last Summer, they again showed the edited version after people had complained about the previous showing being the edited one.

     

    Obviously quality control is lacking and not a priority for this network anymore.

    I noticed that Last Summer was pulled the last time it was scheduled on TCM.  Co-incidence?

  4. Have you noticed they have been putting classic films back in the theaters for one day a year or so ? They are trying to get older people to the theater. But, Home theaters with big screens, hi def, stereo sound etc...are keeping people at home. Of my older relatives, none go to the theaters even when there is a movie they like playing. Its so much easier to wait for it to come to tv.

     

    Then you have those in ill health, those who no longer drive, those on fixed incomes who can't afford $12 tickets in some places. You add it all together, no too many seniors are coming to the theaters. Pair that with teens and kids taking movies to billion dollar box offices practically all summer. What would you expect the film makers to do ?

     

    My parent can't go. My aunt and uncle went to one movie this century: "Lincoln" . They enjoyed it and the theater also. But, haven't been back. Why would anyone make movies for them ??  

    Exactly.  And hence the drastic decline in the numbers of medium budgeted films being made.

    If you only have one fifth the number of adult dramas being made then it probably follows that there are probably 80% fewer good ones on offer today.

    If you compared the 'In Production' charts that Variety puts out it is clear that the movie industry has shifted away from producing as many films as they once did.

  5. You're right, I'm sorry. I am completely wrong and hereby retract every previous comment I have made. I am a clueless yokel outsider who is truly ignorant about all things. You have changed my mind. I now agree that we are living in the worst of times, all films post-1965 are garbage, only brain dead simpletons could possibly enjoy any new film, Hollywood hates their audiences, every movie in every theater released every week is just another mindless remake/reboot/sequel/superhero/sci-fi/horror/whatever type of movie you don't like crapfest.

     

    You win.

    I only took exception to your view that there were more films being made than ever before.  Not about the quality of them.

    The numbers are continually on the decline.  And it is the medium budgeted films that are suffering the most.

    Today it is either films being made for under 2 million or over 80 million.  

  6. Oh brother, here we go again with this moronic topic...there seems to be one of these every month or so.

     

    Like I said last time, there have ALWAYS been people complaining about the current state of cinematic affairs, since the days of the nickelodeon one-reelers, to the advent of sound; from the introduction of widescreen in the 50s to the start of the "New Hollywood" in the 70s. Someone somewhere was crying about their perceived decline in the state of things. There have ALWAYS been remakes, there have always been bad movies, there have always been pablum for the lowest common denominator crowd.

     

    Name one great film and I'll list 20 from that same year that were absolutely terrible. And as for no dramas or movies of substance being released now, you just aren't looking. There are more feature films being released each year than ever before, of every conceivable genre and quality. If you can't find something that appeals to you, the problem isn't "Hollywood", it's you!

    You aren't taking a serious look at the industry, my friend.  75% of the film distributors have closed up shop in the last 20 years because of the decline in genre and middle budgeted films.  That is where most adult dramas came from.

    Sure there are still quality films being made but not in the numbers that we saw in the 80's.  

    Maybe you have to be in this business to realize that.  There are not more films being released than ever before.  I have no idea where you come by that crazy notion.

    • Like 1
  7. Wow, imagine if Liza Minnelli And Desi Arnaz Jr had a child together.

    Having Judy Garland and Lucille Ball for grandmothers seems like a wonderful idea in theory but the reality might not be without some negatives.

    It would make for an interesting statue.  Photoshop anyone?

  8. The Bob Hoskins mini-series is one of the best things I've ever seen- I, personally, would definitely use the term light years to describe how much better it is than the film. Hoskins is excellent in it. Steve Martin wasn't very good and couldn't fill the role. I've not seen either version of the latter title, but I believe you.

     

    (Do you think it's bad etiquette to say things like this before the film airs? Not to discourage anyone, of course, that would be unthinkable.)

    Not at all.  It's a good recommendation and it was a piece that really made Hoskins.

     

    I'd go as far as to say that The Singing Detective with Michael Gambon is one of the best tv dramas that I have ever seen.  It works on so many levels.  Cheap dime store noir.  Campy musical.  The hero is constantly hallucinating because of the drugs he is on.  And then there are the childhood flashbacks which, I would say unexpectedly tie the entire piece together at the end.  Dennis Potter is held in very high regard in Britain.

    • Like 2
  9. yeah, but what is sadly missing from todays pathetic offerings is any appreciably well-done dramatics because today's Hollywood people simply do not know how.  all they care about are the cgi sequences they build their life action scenes around...and they doan even do the cgi. the studios' cgi nerd technicians do that. look at something like the towering inferno from 1974. Irwin Allen directed some action sequences as well. that is old school competence compared to todays incompetent mediocrity. :)

    You are absolutely right, I'm sad to say.  The number of medium budgeted films directed to an 'adult' audience has shrunk considerably over the last 20 years.  Studios prefer to put all of their rotten eggs into one big blockbuster basket now.

    Yes, there have always been blockbusters but not at the total expense of an abundance of good dramas which is the state of things these days.

    • Like 1
  10. Incorrect assumptions in romantic comedies.

     

    I saw him with that girl and ...  it's revealed that he is the son of the bad guy and ... etc, etc., etc., as Yul Brynner would say.

     

    Followed by half an hour of the hero trying to reverse those assumptions.

  11. On my oldest son's recommendation, I watched both DEAD SNOW and DEAD SNOW RED VS. DEAD.  The first one is a straight zombie flick, and is quite effective (German with subtitles).  The second one (in English), which picks up, the very next second after the first one ends, is a laugh-out-loud, violent riot of a film (think EVIL DEAD/EVIL DEAD ii).  Both are on Netflix Streaming.

    Norwegian with subtitles actually.

  12. I've just been going through the October schedule with greater scrutiny.  My dawg did David Niven make a whole load of turkeys.  And star of the month, not once, but twice?

     

    Did the programmers think that having a June Allyson and a Kathryn Grayson day would make up for it?

     

    And what's with the same old, same old horror movie retreads every Halloween?

     

    Unbelievably bad month apart from a few here and there.

     

    Little Dorrit and An Angel at My Table are gems but even some of the choices for the Women's films are tired romantic comedies.  But I suppose, Hollywood WAS relegating Women to making films like that in the 80's.

  13. Thanks to everyone who recommended PENNIES FROM HEAVEN in this thread.

    From the comments posted here, it does sound like a truly unique movie and one that I would have missed based just on the brief description that appears with it on the TCM schedule.

    The original Dennis Potter British teleplay of Pennies From Heaven with Bob Hoskins is interesting to see as well.

    AND Potter's original The Singing Detective with Michael Gambon is light years better than the Downey movie remake.

    • Like 2
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