EricJ

Try the finale episode, "Lunar Eclipse", which also fourth-wall kidded the fourth-season shark-jump after dumping the mystery format: ABC executives cancel the show and start striking the sets mid-episode, and as the characters confusedly go off to their trailers, the Curtis Armstrong character tells Bruce, "You spent so much time on your stupid relationship, you drove the fans away!" Yep: For all the Millennials championing "their" Internet and saying "Who needs Digital and disk? You can find everything on YouTube now!", I always ask, "So, then, you LIKE watching your movies sped-up, with reduced volume, in a 1/3 postage-stamp corner of the screen, with a 'glaucoma' blur-filter over it?"

Yes, that was Edwards' last sane movie, getting back to his French-farce roots. Would it have been better if studios had insisted he trade it for the Broadway "La Cage Aux Folles" musical (which could never get off the ground from bad studio-casting ideas and too much, ahem, fan-stigma)? He would have been perfect, but not as perfect as this one. I'll even tinfoil theories he might have wanted to do it anyway, and couldn't get the rights...He had a weird thing for old-fashioned European drag clubs.

Edwards sort of FORGOT how to direct, after he didn't have Peter Sellers anymore to improvise his way through scenes. He would let all the other actors meander through the scenes without direction in the same way, and they didn't quite know how to fill three or four minutes. And I haven't seen A Fine Mess or Switch, so I can't say for sure which post-Sellers Blake Edwards movie would rank as a "Bomb", apart from Sunset. Even Son of the Pink Panther has its fun moments, after Roberto Benigni stepped in and directed Edwards' movie for him, while Blake was apparently playing with his toes.

I assume the episodes included "Atomic Shakespeare", the one OTHER thing Moonlighting will always be remembered for in TV history, apart from Bruce & Cybil destroying their own series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijUr6p8xSBM I've seen Bingie-Fangirl lists, on every blog and column site, about "What to Watch During the Quarantine", and it's (not so) amazing how many of them have never seen a TV series made before 2003, and want to discuss what happens on The Americans at great length. Except for one, who said, "OMG, you have to watch the Golden Girls!", and one which just started to discover that Columbo reruns on Amazon were sorta addictive. And we have enough problems trying to get them to watch old films. (My existence, OTOH, has been bouncing back and forth between Blu-ray, and Doctor Who, Match Game and MST3K on PlutoTV. And I just found a new stash of Fantasy Island on Crackle, so I'm good.)

Well, it's not part of Lionsgate''s "Vestron Collection" of Blu-rays, but Kino Lorber's got ya covered: https://www.amazon.com/National-Lampoons-Reunion-Special-Blu-ray/dp/B07J3B94T8

Well, no, like Xanadu's patchwork of scripts, which fell together nicely, was referring to Singin' going through about three or four script ideas, until they finally pasted that "Broadway Melody Ballet" in at the last minute, because they thought they couldn't follow An American in Paris's act, and had to write in "Make 'Em Laugh" because they didn't know what else to do with Donald O'Connor after rejecting three or four other ideas for musical numbers. (Not to mention that his big finale number with Kelly had been cut to make room for the ballet.) So, yes: Just like the Old-Fashioned Musicals, Xanadu was thrown together at the last second. You got somethin' WRONG with that?

We don't know who it is, anymore-- I haven't watched Hallmark Channel (formerly the Faith & Life channel) since it used to be Brian Henson's own private outlet for all those Robert Halmi classic miniseries. But now they discovered the Female-Demographic Christmas Rom-Com, and now they're the channel that only programs for two months out of the year.

Take care, as you're right deep in the nest of at least half a dozen confirmed Museheads, and no way of telling how many undeclared ones. The secret to enjoying Xanadu is, if it thinks it's a "40's MGM musical", well, how were most of them made? Case in point: Michael Beck and Olivia Newton-John originally complained that the script was being changed so often, they "didn't know what movie they were making from week to week"--And that's true. The movie actually came out of four wildly different script concepts, each of which contributed some major plot scene to the final movie. Script 1 was going to have record-cover artist Beck falling for mystery-girl rock roadie Olivia, and she inspires his dreams to create a "rock palace". That's where we get the beginning, with Beck chasing Olivia around the pier, and finally catching up with her in an abandoned theater. Beck's wacky art-studio pals and jerk boss were going to be the main subplot, instead of disappearing one-third into the final film. Script 2 was going to cash in on what was then going to be the "new revival craze" for Swing-dancing, and that brought in the 40's motif. Also brought in Gene Kelly's character, who remembers the swing days, and helps Beck build a "40's meets the 80's" club. (That's also where we get the number with Zoot-suiters meeting New Wave rockers. ) Swing dancing didn't catch on, so Script 3 became a salute to LA 30's-40's Art Deco, which Beck develops an interest in after sketching a toaster he got from his friend at an antique store (the thing we see him sketching in the opening), Beck & Olivia's date nights started going to the Hollywood Bowl and then-unrestored Egyptian Theater, and the "rock palace" became restoring the Pan-Pacific Auditorium. By the time we got Script 4, Olivia was already a literal as well as figurative muse, and swing dancing was replacedby the "new craze" for Roller Disco. Beck now chases Olivia over the pier on roller skates, she uses the abandoned PPA for a skating rink, and they get the idea to turn the rock palace into a skating palace where dreams come true. Also, with Gene Kelly in the movie, the 40's-nostagia motif could go beyond buildings and dancing and into general thematic motif....Good thing he still had his skates left over from "That's Entertainment Pt. II". Sound disorganized?...Yeah, it is. But then, ever read up on how "Singin' in the Rain" was put together? (Yep, warned ya: You're among people who KNOW this stuff.) 😎

As one critic pointed out, when the soundtrack soars as the gang breaks up the post-office raid for their first bust, it's just a minor skirmish, but Morricone makes it sound like they've just won the Battle of Agincourt. (In fact, the theme does rather sound like Kenneth Branagh's speech to his troops from Henry V...)

And Elliott is acting strangely at school. Meanwhile, I looked over on Disney+'s Twitter account, and they were so busy plugging their original tween series/movies, think I actually was the only poster there to mention Darby O'Gill & the Little People.

Was never a fan of BTILC (endless Precious Quirkiness from WD Richter, where coherent plot explanation is just too unhip), but there's more good popcorn from 1986--It wasn't '82 or '84, and nowhere near '81, but there's still plenty of hidden gold: Back to School Running Scared The Golden Child Ruthless People Gung Ho Peggy Sue Got Married Jumpin' Jack Flash F/X House (not the Japanese one) The Boy Who Could Fly The Manhattan Project Clockwise Solarbabies (just as representative decade symbol, and far less insufferable on that basis than Spacecamp) It wasn't all JUST Howard the Duck, Labyrinth and Ferris Bueller, you know.

And in case every single other obituary hasn't posted/cited it already: 😂 First Harvey, then Tim, and now Lyle...

Scary by 70's TV-movie standards, which is no small accomplishment (for years, the brother floating at the window traumatized a generation), and yes. I never read the book, but I can spot a literary Stephen King lick a mile away. Qv. the Stand miniseries. And even though Larry Cohen's A Return to Salem's Lot (1987) get murderously pilloried by naive fans (like points guess-who) thinking it's an actual linear sequel, those who go in knowing it's deliberately trying to be original clever off-book tongue-in-cheek Cohen-camp in the spirit of "Q", "The Stuff" and "Island of the Alive" have a much better time with it.

(And you'll notice, of course, that's an early Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, years before Wings of Desire, or everlasting Internet fame as Angry Hitler.)

Also, since FW Murnau had to legally distance the story from Bram Stoker's book, his Nosferatu had to dig into the real European legends of the vampire as a personified embodiment of plague and pestilence. (That's rather why they resemble and hang around with rats, bats, and other plague-carrying animals, and tend to be so contagious with their victims.) The charming aristocratic vampire of Stoker's day only came later, after a poem that made pointed comparisons between "libidinous diseased parasites" and Lord Byron. Herzog's Nosferatu plays up the "plague" idea more effectively, as his vampire isn't in town to round up brides, but to wipe out most of the town's population. There's a creepy post-apocalyptic feel to the village once disease starts spreading, and creates more of an eerie effect than just Bela Lugosi callbacks. Oh, and not to mention, the "real thing"'s a lot scarier in practice: 😦

Yeah. That IS big, considering the country that gave us "The Peanut Butter Solution". Not to mention three years of the Canadian Film Tax Incentive, which still haunt the nightmares of anyone who watched HBO in the early 80's. 😳 Thank you for providing proof to my theory, namely that Xanadu's reputation was not only forever besmirched by being released within a month of Can't Stop The Music during the summer of '80, but that to this day, most people literally can't remember which movie was which. (Quick, which one won the 1980 Razzie for Worst Picture?) Which is why, apart from fans, you will never, ever hear one mentioned in a sentence without the other. To add insult to injury, the two movies would often be released in theatrical double-feature reissues, which helped clear up the mixup no end. They're, um....not the same movie, you know. I've seen CSTM, and hoo-boy, is it not Xanadu.

The general consensus of Fright Night is that there ARE no bad Tom Holland (the director, not Spiderman) films of the 80's. And that also holds just as true for Cloak and Dagger as for Psycho II. Holland was one of the decade's great contributions to culture.

Yes, I, too, tend not to choose Lou Costello movies when I Master Bates... 🤨 (To use the Hitchcock-approved auto-censor dodge.)

The only good thing to come out of the Brady Bunch parodies was a Nick at Nite tie-in that examined the series from a Ken Burns perspective: Brady: An American Chronicle 😆 As for "bombs", I give most movies the benefit of the doubt--you can find the best ones that way--and apart from righteous crusades (like, when I get in a conversation with fans of Shrek or Moulin Rouge, and their trying to explain a genre they haven't seen any other films from), the only movies that genuinely raise my hackles are those so bizarre, you actually can't remember whether you didn't just fall asleep and dream them after a bad burrito. It's a hard concept to explain if you haven't seen, for one example, Chevy Chase in Modern Problems (1981). You have been most NON-ironically warned. 😱

...WORSE than that Apple ad (that was shown once at the Super Bowl, and then yanked from air, as MacOS fans facepalmed in shame?) 😦

Also, times change, and nobody gets to be the one to say Everyone Should Think This Way Forever: Walt Disney thought "Alice in Wonderland", "Fantasia" and "Peter Pan" were three of his biggest studio flops ever. Groucho Marx spread the story that "Duck Soup" had been a catastrophic money-loser that ended their career with Paramount (which wasn't completely true) In 1980, nearly every critic unanimously put "The Blues Brothers" on their yearly 10 Worst Films list (it had those stupid car crashes in it!) In 1985, "Clue: the Movie" was one of the year's biggest flops, as "Blade Runner", "Tron" and John Carpenter's "The Thing" had been in 1982. Even today, streaming and third-party home-video lets us enjoy movies like "Exodus", "Three Days of the Condor", "Thelma & Louise", etc., through the benefit of Paramount, MGM and UA/Orion studio collections that went public-domain when their owners literally thought nobody would WANT to buy them on Blu/DVD anymore. A lot of kids saw their future investments go up in smoke when a bit of self-righteous 50's zeitgeist panic made their moms burn their entire comic-book collection on the City Hall lawn. Goofy-zeitgeist is temporary, but film should be forever.

Have to admit, my old Y2K Bug memories are kicking back in. I'm not sure why healthy people are buying six months of toilet paper to quarantine themselves in, unless it's psychological comfort of raising the drawbridge and telling the world to go CV itself....Which sure worked out well for that Poe character in "Masque of the Red Death" I think people actually, recreationally like panicking. It gives the child half of their adult side some illusion of "control", that they can enjoy the adrenaline of fearing the entire world around them, and then doing goofy buy-out-the-store stunts to believe they're enacting their own personal control over it. (Anyone ever get a real thrill every time they've done their stockup shopping, closed the storm windows and cleared the driveway before that big blizzard the TV weather predicted starts snowing, and then looks forward to that cocoa-and-shoveling snow-day in safe comfort?) And just like Y2K was our national catharsis that we didn't really understand how all this new computer/Internet technology worked, and the 50's bomb-shelter panic was our distrust that mere patriotism wouldn't protect us from Russia, would we be panicking over this disease to quite this extent if it wasn't............CHINESE???? (Which many a GOP politician has already made his own tastelessly inappropriate "joke" about by this point.) O. D. G. 😱 If it'd been the Mister Rogers movie, or another wartime epic, we could salute Hanks being shot in the saddle for a good cause. But just because Baz "Great Glam-Parties Throughout History" Luhrmann managed to get another actual A-list actor for his wishful historical gay-fantasies (yep, Baz believed that one about the Colonel & Elvis, just like he wishfully believed Nick Carraway had a "secret thing" for Jay Gatsby) doesn't mean we have to sacrifice one of our national film treasures for it. If Hanks dies, I say we sue Luhrmann for criminal negligence, and let him enjoy his Beyonce' parties behind bars, where he'll find plenty of guests for them.

And while only tangentially related, no tribute to Von Sydow's performance in The Seventh Seal and the Bergman canon can be noted without some subconscious association with:

Robot Monster already did get a pristine restoration, namely of its original (and rare) 3D print, but the current owner is being too much of a rights-jerk to let it be seen in public or on Blu-ray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpz2JERo3AY Another way to lose great rarities, and I un-ironically say that as a 3D owner. 😞

Even though it has the Asylum-ish look of a low-budget direct-video from an "Inspirational film company", 2013's The Book of Daniel does a surprisingly realistic and sympathetic adaptation of Daniel's encounter with three Old Testament kings, without going for the usual kitsch and flare of OT movie adaptations or socially/politicized inspirational-film ambitions: