Oh yes, a boy, a girl and a universe, That's how it all started 42 years ago,
And if you want to look at the excitement that Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi generated between 1977 and 1983; look no further than this collection of trailers and TV spots for all three films:
Almost all the spots and trailers build on one another, to keep you excited until the movie came out.
That's the way movies were marketed back in those days.
Until the Internet came along and rendered marketing almost irrelevant.
In this always entertaining show with veteran Rolling Stone entertainment journalist Peter Travers, Robert De Niro finally acknowledges what his friends and sometime collaborators Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola were unable to convey in their sentiments regarding Marvel films.
He says that he's sure that the actors in those films perform with feeling.
He also refrains from commenting further, very wisely stating that he doesn't watch them, nor has he been offered a role in one (his cameo in DC's Joker notwithstanding)
So now we can all thankfully move on, in terms of pop culture.
A quick check and some quick math tells me that writer-director Jason Reitman was 7 when his dad Ivan was directing the original Ghostbusters, released in the summer of 1984.
And he's said that he was on set a lot at that time.
Which means that it's likely just as much a part of his cultural DNA as it is ours.
Which means he won't screw it up,
Right?
Hey no pressure.
But everybody's back that can be.
Even Bill Murray.
And he even looks like he wanted to be there!
I'm even gonna predict (just a gut feeling mind you...)
...that Mr. Rick Moranis will show up in a cameo, or as a faraway extra.
Even though he's moved on from the film life, as it were.
Good for him, because few can or do, even if they want to.
Gotta say as well, that the Calgary and area wheatfields did bode well for another big film.
The end of an era came to pass on a Monday just over two years ago, as the Edmonton Film Society said goodbye with a final screening of Casablanca. Revered as the quintessential Hollywood film, it was the perfect choice for a reluctant parting. And yes it was reluctant, as over the last few years the allure of seeing a classic movie on the big screen at the Royal Alberta Museum became somewhat diluted by the numbers and sizes now available to our loyal audiences.
I first started coming to screenings in the spring of 1996. Here is the first film I saw:
Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers and a young Marilyn Monroe all frolicked in Monkey Business. Over the years I had the opportunity to watch a few more Humphrey Bogart classics:
A fine mystery with Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet. But the best was yet to come:
Katharine Hepburn joins Bogart for a screen pairing like no other in the 1951 classic The African Queen (yes, shot in the real Africa, as well as Uganda, the then Belgian Congo and the UK). Bogie's Charlie and Hepburn's Rose have outstanding screen chemistry as they travel down a river. All romantic screen pairings should have this much thought put into them.
But here is the movie that has stayed with me in my two decades of EFS screenings:
The Apartment, 1960's Best Picture (which also won Oscars for director Billy Wilder and also for Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond's screenplay) has all the seemingly light-hearted laughs present in the trailer. But as in all of Billy Wilder's best work ( Some Like It Hot and The Fortune Cookie to name just two), there is a decidedly dark tinge to the proceedings that just wasn't present in the films of other comedy stars such as Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
Jack Lemmon stars as C.C. Baxter, a bachelor insurance salesman attempting to get ahead in the company by loaning out his apartment key to his coworkers and boss for their various trysts. He is often inconvenienced, literally being made to wait out in the cold as his officemates take mighty advantage of his generosity. Thank goodness for the commiseration and warmth of elevator operator Miss Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine).
Anyone wanting to see what a departure it was for Disney icon Fred MacMurray to play Baxter's cad of a boss Jeff Sheldrake should spend some time on Disney+ watching The Absent-Minded Professor, Son Of Flubber or The Happiest Millionaire. Mad Men's Don Draper definitely has some of Sheldrake's DNA, and I would not be at all surprised if director of photography Joseph LaShelle's sweeping yet stark depiction of office life was an influence on the later show.
Lemmon is at his early-career best, playing Baxter as a man at first pleased to be "one of the boys" before ultimately having to decide between office track success and his humanity. MacLaine deftly infuses Kubelik's warmth with a world-weary sadness at the lecheressness bubbling just underneath midcentury work life. She probably would have won the Oscar she was nominated for, had Elizabeth Taylor not both cheated death and acted in Butterfield 8 that year, playing a call girl. "I lost to a trachenonemy," MacLaine quipped. And although Taylor was grateful for the industry goodwill that got her the award, she absolutely HATED that it was for that particular role.
I must confess that I was able to amass all this knowledge only through more than two decades of attendance at Edmonton Film Society screenings, as well as board memberships. I will always treasure the film memories and friendships I made in all that time.
These days, classic films are available on streaming services such as Netflix and the just-launched Disney+.
And Turner Classic Movies, celebrating 25 years this year with its excellent selection of timeless hits, rarities and even silent films, is a worthy companion to curl up with on a cold night.
And classic films are available for viewing in a variety of ways, including your tablet and smartphone. Even as Jerry Lewis once famously opined that there was never any way he'd ever watch Lawrence Of Arabia on a phone.
But truly, if you have a film society anywhere near you, and you are able to go, do it!
Or even a like-minded friend or two, going to a specially-selected theatre in your town (maybe even a heritage one) to see Martin Scorsese's The Irishman before it hits Netflix!
Maybe even coffee and discussion afterward!
That's how iconic film critic Roger Ebert began his journey in criticism, even before the Chicago Sun-Times and the TV shows with his rival and friend Gene Siskel!
Because there is nothing like discovering a wonderful film in a room with like-minded people!
So to my friends in the former Edmonton Film Society, thank you so much!
It is quite something to ask people to volunteer and be present every Monday night at 8 to sell and take tickets. Most of you for over three decades.
And it is something else again to realize and weather changes in technology.
Also to recognize and nurture a love for classic film, and the shared film experience, among the younger generations.
We sure did try, to the very end.
I salute you all, as well as our friends who have passed on.
And to our very loyal audiences who came out week after week for decades, thank you so very much! We could not have done it without you!
Bond 25, now titled No Time To Die, is hitting theatres in April 2020. A cross between (likely) film footage and some behind-the-scenes shots, the trailer certainly gives us a feel for this latest film's Jamaican locations.
And (wow!) an actual Panavision film camera is visible in one of the set shots!
But more importantly, the Jamaican location hearkens back to Bond One (O.B. if you prefer), back in 1962, Dr. No:
With Daniel Craig returning as Bond for (reportedly) the final time, and a mix of seasoned Bond writers (Neal Purvis and Robert Wade from the Pierce Brosnan era), and fresh talent like Scott Z. Burns (Netflix's The Laundromat), the proceedings should get a fresh coat of paint to be sure, especially with new writer-director Cary Fukunaga (True Detective Season 1), at the helm and with a hand in the script as well. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator of the award-winning Amazon Prime phenomenon Fleabag, is on hand as well at Craig's behest, to ensure that the new entry in the Bond series has a strong female perspective in the post MeToo era, as it should.
A movie about friendship in prison? That isn't Suicide Squad?
Wow.
And I know firsthand how special The Shawshank Redemption is.
Because I was at its Edmonton theatrical premiere at the downtown Eaton Centre Cinema on a Wednesday night in October 1994
When my buddy Ron Clark, then working at Edmonton's movie premiere powerhouse Power 92 FM, happened to mention in his introduction of the movie that it was based on a novella by Stephen King.
A woman two rows down from me yelled, "Oh my God! Oh my God! Is it gonna be scary?"
I assured her that I didn't think it was going to be.
And it truly wasn't.
Instead it was a deeply affecting story about a deep and lasting friendship that forms between Andy (Tim Robbins) and Red (Morgan Freeman) who meet while serving life sentences in prison.
Even sitting in the theater back then, I thought that movies such as Shawshank were made very rarely, if at all.
It opened in 12th place, according to Box Office Mojo.
A dud, by industry standards.
The People review even began, "No, this isn't the sequel to The Hudsucker Proxy..."
But here's what happened:
Thanks to word-of-mouth among people after its VHS and DVD release, The Shawshank Redemption resonated over the years.
And let's not forget its repeated showings on TBS and other cable channels.
People discovered it slowly...and loved it!
The chemistry between Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.
Their depiction of strong and true friendship.
And the very real sense of time passing very slowly, as it likely would in a prison.
I think there's an OMG moment involving Rey, similar to the one way back in The Empire Strikes Back.
Could be wrong. But she does look pretty pissed off.
And I'm not spoiling that classic OMG moment.
Because I once ran into one guy...
...who absolutely did not know.
So for that guy (who probably still hasn't seen Empire or anything Star Wars related lol)...
...I will keep my silence.
And I know my nieces will probably see everything eventually, all in due time.
So I don't want to spoil it for them either.
Apparently all films, even the middle trilogy, will be wrapped up.
All in The Rise Of Skywalker.
Yes, in one film.
They might need David Copperfield's help with that one.
But it will sure be interesting to see how they get there!
...yes Fred and Barney and the gang did like to smoke and drink, back in the day.
But how can that be, you ask?
We never saw them smoke when we saw them on CFRN (that is a joy to type, I have to say!)...
...every weekday at noon for over 35 years, did we?
Nope, we sure didn't, due to the joys of daytime syndication.
Because in its original run, from 1960 to 1966, The Flintstones was a nighttime show on ABC...
...with sponsors such as Busch Beer and Winston Cigarettes.
Now that I think about it, I think that some of the topics covered, such as Betty and Barney's loneliness after the birth of Pebbles brought Fred and Wilma such joy...
...seemed a little heavy for a show aimed exclusively at children.
OMG what a show last night at Rogers Place as Elton John wrapped up his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Tour. Here is a 1999 60 Minutes interview for those interested in Elton's career as a whole.
I have unfortunately had to tell two separate people that The Mandalorian, the Jon Favreau-created Disney + series that appears to cover the backstory of the Stormtroopers from the Star Wars universe, is not going to be on "regular" TV,
Too bad. Looks pretty awesome.
But at least for those who decide to go with Disney+, it will doubtless feel like real TV, as Disney has decided to differentiate its streaming service from Netflix by parceling out its series one episode at a time.
As for me, although Disney+ will be priced at a very enticing $4.99/month when it drops in November, I think I will wait on it.
I've got too much to dive in and catch up on on Netflix.
23 years after his action classic Independence Day, director Roland Emmerich serves up not aliens but living, breathing humans dealing with the real-life events surrounding the Japanese Pearl Harbor in 1941. Presumably without the excessive mushiness that marred Michael Bay's 2001 handling of much of the same material.
This just may be the movie to let teenagers and young adults understand the dangers of misplaced patriotism by offering a satirical look at 1930s Germany.
On this day 20 years ago, the first episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire aired on ABC, starring talk and game show host icon Regis Philbin
But curiously, I was not able to research the date using IMDb, the site that usually has dates and listings for everything related to entertainment, finding it instead on the YouTube clip.
What gives?
Because Philbin is not listed as having hosted the show.
Now anyone that knows me well knows that I am a huge fan of good old 70 mm film. I still find watching digital images in a movie theatre somewhat disconcerting, like watching a movie on your really good TV at home.
Brief but true story. About ten years ago I went to a Classics Series screening of Casablanca on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I wondered how they were able to get either such a good and clear film print of that 1942 classic. Or even if it had been on a then-new DLP hard drive, that would have been cool. The times...they are a-changin' and all that.
But no.
It was neither of the two.
Because the one guy who was presumably responsible for button-starting the 11 or 12 drives...oops I mean films was running late. And so what we got at the end of Casablanca was...a Blu-Ray menu.
"Shit...I could have watched this at home," one guy (not me) said.
Kinda kills the mood all right.
That's why I'm excited to be seeing Apollo 11 in IMAX, using meticulously preserved 70 mm film covering all aspects of the historic Apollo 11 mission that launched 50 years ago this weekend.
It seems nothing short of miraculous that director Todd Douglas Miller and CNN Films were able to find and put this footage together, and prepare it for IMAX exhibition with the help of teams of technicians.
What must it have been like to be part of a world captivated by wonder, watching the impossible exactly 50 years ago?
For those who thought that Joaquin Phoenix's acting career was over with his "rapping", captured so brilliantly in Casey Affleck's 2010 "documentary" I'm Still Here":
Dude just needed a break man...whew!
Joaquin definitely proves that he is indeed still here with his portrayal as The Joker, initially a goofy soul who slowly descends into madness.
It has come to my attention through a friend's Facebook wall that there are many many people out there who have not seen The Princess Bride, a 1987 cult classic. So I am posting it here as a public service, to further the betterment and continuation of pop culture.
Because it is pretty damn cool.
Here are five cool facts about The Princess Bride:
1) It started life as a novel by Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman.
2) The adventures of Wesley and Buttercup were originally bedtime stories Goldman told his daughters.
3) Before it was released by 20th Century Fox on September 25, 1987 in a lowly nine theatres, it was set up with at least three different studios. Two of these said yes to developing it on Friday...and either shut down or changed management on Monday.
4) On its release in those nine theatres, it made a paltry $206, 243 (per Box Office Mojo), eventually grossing $30,857,814 in 803 theatres after it was widely released on October 9. Absolutely catastrophic numbers in today's movie culture, where a $300 million worldwide gross for a superhero film is considered a "failure". Yet it is remembered and beloved by its many devotees 32 years later, thanks to its rediscovery on home video, which is where I first saw it, on a rainy day in High Prairie, Alberta
Are you listening, Hollywood?
And most importantly, despite creating a rich cinematic "universe" over its 98 minutes, and also despite rock-solid chemistry between stars Cary Elwes and Robin Wright as Wesley and Buttercup, no one at the studio expected to make multiple sequels, and as far as my memory serves, audiences weren't clamoring for one either. Neither the leads nor anyone in the films were signed to Marvel slave contracts, like poor Robert Downey Jr. (I know he isn't poor. But...you know. Deep in your heart, you know. And he knows too.)
Because movie fans were happy to lose themselves in a movie 98 minutes at a time.
And that was enough.
Aside from a video game in 2008, which featured voice work by Robin Wright as Buttercup, Mandy Patinkin as Inigo, and Wallace Shawn as Vizzini:
Sylvester \Stallone created the indelible character of John Rambo after captivating audiences with Rocky Balboa. The first installment, First Blood, was actually filmed in Vancouver and released in 1982. The original cut was very dialogue-heavy and almost three hours long. But Stallone explained in a recent Howard Stern interview that he made the decision to cut out most of his lines and concentrate on the action, which turned out to be a wise decision. Silence can communicate a hell of a lot more than words if handled right, which director Ted Kotcheff does.
Now 37 years later, Stallone brings John Rambo full circle by bringing him home to America, after stops in Cambodia, Afghanistan and Burma in the intervening films. It will be interesting to see how much of the current political climate finds its way into Matthew Cirulnick's script, if at all.
But I have a feeling that Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is gonna make me feel as though I was.
And I can't wait.
Because as I look around at current film culture, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are two of the very few larger-than-life movie stars we have left.
Guys who can still cultivate good old movie-star mystique.
Guys who we don't know everything about just by looking at our phones, social media or TMZ.
In their respective roles as fading star Rick Dalton and Dalton's longtime stunt double/buddy Cliff Booth, they sure do evoke the classic buddy movie vibe of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Here is the trailer for Newman and Redford's classic movie Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, from 1969:
Both Hollywood and Butch share filmic DNA strands about the last gasps of soon-to-be bygone eras. And in Hollywood's director Quentin Tarantino, we have a man who thinks in widescreen 70 mm canvasses, as seen in this trailer for The Hateful Eight, from 2016:
Tarantino also has the screen writing chops to add a real layer of believability and authenticity to the proceedings. Unfortunately, the controversial aspect will be how the inclusion of real-life actress Sharon Tate, played by Margot Robbie, is handled in the script, which features her moving in next door to DiCaprio's Dalton. By all accounts, Tate was a talented actress and sweet gentle soul, who in no way deserved the brutal slaying she got at the hands of the lunatic Manson family on August 9, 1969.
Following a voice role in Sing and a turn as skier Eddie the Eagle, Taron Egerton's breakout role appears to be Elton John in Rocketman, out on May 31.
Sir Elton deserves a place on top of the musical mountain along with The Beatles and Sir Paul in terms of musical contributions to pop culture.
This scene in 2000's Almost Famous would not be the same without Tiny Dancer:
And as per Rocketman's marketing, the only way to tell Elton's story is to live his fantasy.
Which is Hollywood-speak for "I'm gonna tell you my story exactly how I want to tell it. And that's it".
With an autobiography coming out in October, all this should be very interesting!
Now I may be overselling this just a little bit based on a couple of viewings of this trailer for Yesterday.
But I think the literal concept of "the soundtrack of our lives" is brilliant.
Because let's face it, the song Yesterday itself, written by Beatle Paul McCartney upon waking one fateful morning, (oops, that's Sir Paul McCartney to me, that's right), has been recorded over 500 times by seemingly every musician on the planet.
So it is conceivable that, for fantasy's sake, the spiritual essence generated by the song could drop into the heart and mind of a hapless and ordinary bloke, who wakes up one morning to find that the Beatles never existed, except for him.
Because I am sure that lots and lots of unordinary change, bills, and maybe even a bit of bitcoin was dropped into the bank accounts of Sir Paul and Cool Ringo.
And the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison, to be sure.
I'm sure Paul and Ringo are secretly thrilled that people still care about their music after 50-plus years.
And also that, at least in this trailer, no one appears to be singingDrive My Car while dancing energetically on a spit of land somewhere in the British Isles.
\
I know I'm grateful for that.
And I am also grateful for any way to get these songs out to a world that appears to need them.
Yesterday, directed by Slumdog Millionaire's Danny Boyle and written by Love Actually's Richard Curtis, is released June 28.
Can't wait!
Now, as a public service to pop culture, for those who may not be familiar, I offer the three original songs referenced in the trailer, starting with McCartney's title song for the film:
Something, written by George Harrison:
And finally, Hey Jude, written by McCartney for Lennon's son Julian:
Let us take just a moment, as the new Disney/Fox company decides to slow down their new Star Wars development pipeline so we don't get movies about Yoda's weekly support group or Boba Fett's toenail gazing, to remember just a small part of what made the original trilogy so great. We still have one more left to wrap the current timeline, so let's hope it's somewhat of an improvement. Kind of like the Edmonton Oilers hockey team, who used to celebrate scoring goals with at least part of this music over the Coliseum speakers.
But...where are my manners? Here is the trailer for The Rise Of Skywalker:
This is an example of how to conduct a respectful interview with a legendary actor while promoting his latest (and sadly last) work. And it is wonderful that Burt Reynolds and his director Adam Rifkin
seemed to form a true bond of friendship while making The Last Movie Star. Let's watch the trailer:
I have not seen The Last Movie Star yet, in large part because it does not seem to be available at the usual spots in Canada, whether on DVD, BluRay or streaming. Puzzling to say the least, for what seems to be a very affecting film and performance from Reynolds.
I found the 32-minute E.T. Storybook Album, ripped from very well-cared-for vinyl. There was no one better at expressing wonder and emotion than Michael Jackson. He was the perfect choice to capture Steven Spielberg's equally wondrous and family-friendly cinematic vision in this very special narrative fashion.
I have always wondered why Heartlight was not included on the soundtrack to 1982's E.T.
It seems tailor-made for it, lyrically speaking.
"Gonna take a ride across the moon"? I mean come on!
And lest we forget, E.T. actually had a heartlight.
In fact, let us remember, or see for the first time. Whatever suits. Let's hear it for 35 mm film!
Perhaps Universal Pictures, and by extension MCA Records, was afraid that CBS would sue for breach of contract. If you consider that a wild theory, check out this very rare Michael Jackson cut, Someone In The Dark, recorded for an E.T. read-along LP record, which Jackson also narrated:
Jackson was a CBS artist, and according to Wikipedia, and he began recording the E.T. album in June 1982, at the same time as he began work on Thriller. Both albums were produced by Quincy Jones using the same writers and engineers (with Q even helping to pen the read-along narration). MCA had very strict orders not to release the E.T. album until after Thriller dropped on November 7. Displaying monumental arrogance, MCA decided to release it on the very same day. Understandably CBS filed a cease-and-desist order, effectively erasing it from the marketplace, despite MCA's attempt to try to sell it on TV in 1984, which is how I became aware of it:
Too bad, because it was a wonderful and groundbreaking album for its time, using dialogue and music from the film. I heard it because the Edmonton Public Library had a copy.
And too bad about Heartlight too. But Neil Diamond was also a CBS artist.
So maybe he saw all the hubbub and hedged his bets.
