Happy Anniversary A-Z (Well, W)

A few weeks back Patrick Goldstein on his LA Times blog asked “Is there any Hollywood movie that isn’t having an anniversary this month?” He could reasonably have said this year as well because every time I surf the net or pick up a magazine there is a anniversary piece about a classic or cult movie that came out 20 years ago, 25 years ago, 30 years ago and so on. There are quite a few good articles so I thought I’d compile a far from complete listing of some of the best ones. Here goes:

AIRPLANE! (Dir. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, & Jerry Zucker, 1980)

The gag-a-minute disaster film satire just turned 30 (USA release date July 2nd, 1980) and there are a gaggle of tributes including this New York Times piece:

"Surely It's 30 (Don't Call Me Shirley)" - Matt Zoller Seitz

There's also this well worth checking out piece:

"Airplane!, one of the best comedies ever made, celebrates its 30th anniversary (with videos)" - Scott Wampler (Examiner.com)

BACK TO THE FUTURE (Dir. Robert Zemeckis, 1985)

This anniversary, the film's 25th, was marked by what's been called a "twitter hoax" involving a photoshoped picture of Doc Brown's Delorean dashboard. You can read about it here:

"Debunked: 'Back To The Future' Twitter Hoax" - Jeff Sneider (TheWrap.com)

Pretty funny but Conan O"Brien's tweet was funnier:

“Today's the 25th anniversary of "Back to the Future" - The movie that popularized DeLoreans, Flux Capacitors, & almost nailing your own mom.”

THE BLUES BROTHERS (Dir. John Landis, 1980)

1980 comes up a lot here - it was quite a summer. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's musical car chase extravaganza was definitely a highlight as these links attest:

"Remembering 'Blues Brothers' 30 years later" - Christopher Borrelli (Chicago Tribune)

"30 years later and 'Blues Brothers' still on a mission from God" - Steve Spears (Tampabay.com)

"The Blues Brothers Gets Vatican Seal Of Appoval" - Ron Hogan (Popular Fidelity - popfi.com)

CADDYSHACK (Dir. Harold Ramis, 1980)

Score another for 1980 with this much beloved country club golf comedy which pitted the slobs against the snobs. Read on:

"Is it Really the 30th Anniversary of 'Caddyshack'?!" - Jane Boursaw (filmgecko.net.)

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Dir. Irvin Kershner, 1980)


The second (or the 5th if you want to split hairs) film of the ginormously popular STAR WARS series is widely thought by many, including me, to be the best stand alone installment. Here's some links to those who think likewise:

"Report from the 30th Anniversary Empire Screening" - Pablo Hidalgo (starwars.com)

"The Empire Strikes Back Turns 30, As Do Fans Pyschic Scars" - Mike Ryan (Vanity Fair)

"Empire Strikes 30: Ars looks back at a amzing film" - Ben Kuchera (artstechnica.com)

FLETCH (Dir. Michael Ritchie, 1985)

Chevy Chase's newspaper reporter wisecracks through one of his best comedies, if not the best. This is by far the best column I've found yet on the film's birthday:

"White losers rejoice: Fletch celebrates 25 years" - Peter Hyman (thephoenix.com)

GOODFELLAS (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 1990)

It's too early for tributes just yet - the film was released on September 19th, 1990. Until then here's the news of Spike TV's anniversary tribute:

"Spike TV celebrating 'Goodfellas' 20th at Guy's Choice Awards" (merinews.com)

Stay tuned to this space for more on GOODFELLAS 20th...

JAWS (Dir. Steven Spielberg, 1975)

Too many to list here but here's some of the cream of the crop of 35th anniversary wishes to what many claim was the first summer blockbuster:

"'Jaws' 35th anniversary: Remembering the first summer blockbuster" - Andrea Reiher (zap2it.com)

"Jaws' 35th anniversary: How Jaws changed summer movie blockbusters" - Michael Avila (csmonitor.com)

"35th Anniversary of Jaws Begins in a Junkyard" - Robert Falconer (cinemaspy.com)

MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (Dirs. Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones, 1975)

Last year it was reported that there would be a 35th anniversary celebration at Doune castle in England (where much of the movie was shot):

"Monty Python reunion planned for Doune castle" (pythononline.com)

I couldn't find any other info - a date for the reunion or anything so if you know what's up with it please email me.

PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE (Dir. Tim Burton, 1985):

"Los Angeles Film Festival: Paul Reubens to mark 25th anniversary of 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure'" - Susan King (latimes.com)

PSYCHO (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

"Hitchcock's Psycho at 50, The sounds of violence" - Jack Sullivan (WSJ.com)

RAGING BULL (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 1980):

"Brutal Attraction: The Making of Raging Bull"

- Richard Schickel (vanityfair.com)

THE SHINING (Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

"The Shining - 30th Anniversary - May 23, 1980"

WILD AT HEART (Dir. David Lynch, 1990)

Actually other than some notices about 20th anniversary screenings I haven't found a good anniversary appraisal for this one. I just rewatched it and really loved see it again so maybe I should consider doing one. Hmmm.

I know there are a lot of significant anniversaries I've missed - REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955), THE APARTMENT (1960), MASH (1970), NASHVILLE (1975), and many many more so please let me know what else we should be celebrating in the comments below. Looks like a followup is in the cards.

More later...

GOMORRAH: The Film Babble Blog Review

GOMORRAH (Dir. Matteo Garrone, 2008)

Talk about hype! The trailer for this Italian film is filled with raving quotes such as: "Stunning...A reinvention of the mafioso movie" and "the greatest mafia movie ever made...strips every last pretense of romanticism from 'The Godfather' saga." Quite daunting statements especially when considering THE GODFATHER itself was credited for stripping away previous romantic pretensions from the old Hollywood James Cagney-era gangster films. But that's just the thing, THE GODFATHER as such created a new romanticism involving family and tradition that has thrived through later day mob classics including Scorsese's * GOODFELLAS and had a healthy run on HBO'S The Sopranos. That the ambitious GOMORRAH is being sold as a shattering of these modern mob movie myths isn't exactly false advertising but it's certainly an injustice to this fine yet somewhat inaccessible film.

In a strained structure that makes the complex workings of SYRIANA look like a walk in the park, there are several knotted threads to follow involving a group of characters in Naples connected to the Camorra - the real life criminal organization older than any other in Italy. In one major thread, Gianfelice Imparato plays Don Ciro, a mid-level money carrier who defects from his clan amid a hairy dispute. Another thread involves Marco (Marco Macor) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone) as street toughs who steal guns from Camorra members and amuse themselves by firing off rounds at the riverbank in only their underwear making for a striking image that has been rightly exploited in the film's ads. Other threads involve the 13 year old Totò (Nicolo Manta), who falls in with gang members, and Carmine Paternoser rebelling against his boss illegally dumping toxic waste.

How all these tangents come together I'm still trying to work out but perhaps absolute clarity is not director Garrone's objective. Based on the bestselling book by Robert Saviano, GOMORRAH is the result of the work of no less than 6 screenwriters so it's no wonder that it can be a cinematic ball of confusion. Despite this, there is much to recommend here - the washed out docu-drama feel, the killings (or hits) are as piercing as movie simulations can be, and there is realistic grit replacing the glamour of former gangster epics even if the film doesn't surpass their grandeur like the over hyperbolic critics quoted in the trailer claim. However the lack of strong characters coupled with an annoying soundtrack which sounds like cellphone ring-tone flourishes accompanied by a techno beat keep this from a true breakthrough of mafia movie re-imagining. These are my first impressions though for I feel it deserves a deeper look. As it stands now I don't think it would make my mafia movie top ten (were I to make such a list) but depending to how it ages and holds up to repeated viewings, it might just make it in one day.

* Martin Scorsese is credited as the Presenter: USA release of GOMORRAH - something the trailer is actually wise to hype up.

More later...

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE: The Film Babble Blog Review

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Dir. Danny Boyle, 2008)

The buzz has been a-blazing on this film way before it made the news when Roger Ebert got smacked down (literally) by a fellow critic at a screening in Toronto last September. Right now it is topping many Critics’ Award lists for 2008, getting multiple Golden Globe nominations, and gaining massive word of mouth as it gets a wider release. What’s more impressive is that this film deserves every accolade and award and then some. It is a “feel good” movie in the least cynical use of that well worn publicity phrase with its inventive story-telling and rich palette of visual splendor, simply amazing considering its squalor-filled settings. So how can depictions such as poverty, child abuse, and even the sight of somebody drenched in feces be in a film that adds up to an overwhelmingly happy and heart-warming experience? I dunno, but this film pulled it off magnificently - echoing the power and grandeur of CITY OF GOD crossed with the clever charm of Boyle’s own MILLIONS, and it’s done with wit and grit to spare.

Our hero is 18 year old Jamal (Dev Patel along with Tanay Cheda and Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as Jamal at younger intervals) who is being interrogated by police, USUAL SUSPECTS-style, about his suspiciously improbable winnings from appearing on the Hindi version of the modern classic quiz game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. His answers involve engaging and sometimes disturbing flashback sequences that are handled deftly and definitely more fluidly than in many other recent broken narratives. From an early age, Jamal made a couple of connections that would deeply affect his current predicament – his love for Latika (Freida Pinto with Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, and Rubiana Ali as younger incarnations) and his stormy clashes with fellow slum kid Salim (Madhur Mittal, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail – whew!) All of these talents, tested (especially Anil Kapoor as the unctuous game show host) and untested are up to the task at hand here.

A end credits dance sequence (that can’t possibly be a Spoiler!, can it?) is the only thing Bollywood about this Indian movie made by Brits but that works as well and as entertainingly as everything else here. Despite a fair amount of subtitled dialogue (which is pretty stylized as it goes for subtitles) 80-90% of it is spoken in English and it’s instantly accessible so it’s sure to pick up even more acclaim and box office in the weeks to come. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is one of the best movies of the year for sure and will endure to be much more than a winner this awards season – I feel that for years to come it’s going to be a favorite of the same folks who can love AMELIE and an edgier work like GOODFELLAS equally. It has plenty of pure stultifying competition (got MILK?) out there in what’s shaping up to be a precedent setting prestige motion picture season, but from what I’ve seen so far this has the “fun factor” on its side in spades.

More later...

10 Movie Posters That Completely Co-opt Others Original Designs

This is a sequel of sorts to a post I did earlier this year (10 Of The Most Misleading and Mis-representing Movie Posters Ever!) with one of the same posters mentioned and the same theme of mis-marketing dominating. Recently the publicity for the new pop-doc AMERICAN TEEN included a poster that directly recreates the iconic poster image for the classic 80’s teen angst flick THE BREAKFAST CLUB. The similarity was so blatant that it made many folks (including me) think it was a retitled remake:

You see? To be fair AMERICAN TEEN has another poster design out there that’s more original but that above is still still close for comfort. This is a pretty common device that calls for another patented Film Babble Blog list:

10 Movie Posters That Completely Co-opt Other Poster’s Original Designs

1. THE BIG ONE appropriates MEN IN BLACK and suffers legal action for it - That’s right the image for Michael Moore’s self indulgent book tour doc was ruled too similar to the design for the Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi vehicle so a judge ruled that Miramax had to remove the posters from distribution. The taglines: “Protecting the Earth from scum of the universe” from MEN IN BLACK and “Protecting the Earth from the scum of corporate America” from THE BIG ONE would probably be dismissed by most of us as parody not copyright infringement but Columbia Pictures’ lawyers thought differently.

2. FLETCH LIVES for some reason regurgitates GONE WITH THE WIND - This lackluster sequel did itself no favors by placing Chevy Chase’s Irwin M. Fletcher character into the framework of one of the most famous films of all time. Not sure the thinking here, did they really think it was a good idea to equate the camera-mugging wise-ass with a suave Rhett Butler in the thralls of a tragic romance while Atlanta burns? I suppose the GONE WITH THE WIND design is just a device for selling the ‘Fletch inherits a Southern Plantation’ premise and I should cut them some slack for trying to wrap a failed follow-up in something resembling a classy package.

3. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN? macks on the art for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK - Meticulously copying the entire design right down to the typefaces and every detail of the amazing Amsel painting done for the 1982 re-release of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Morgan Spurlock’s much lambasted quasi-poli-doc tries to align itself with the same globe trotting heroic splendor of the Spielberg classic but just ends up looking desperate. I haven’t seen WHERE IN THE WORLD... but not being a fan of SUPER SIZE ME or Spurlock’s television work makes me ambivalent at best to it with this uninspired poster design putting me off even further.

4. THIS IS SPINAL TAP jumps on the back of AIRPLANE! - This one I wrote about before in the Most Mis-leading Movie Posters post mentioned above, noting that director Rob Reiner remarked: “They marketed it with a guitar flying in the air with a twisted neck which looked like the poster for AIRPLANE! It looked like it was trading on

another film”. There were many more comedies that were marketed with crazy ‘flying in the air’ imagery - the Zucker Bros. own NAKED GUN movies kept the concept alive for another decade after SPINAL TAP.

5. PROBLEM CHILD crassly copies PARENTHOOD - A mere months after Ron Howard’s family comedy was a hit came this tasteless anti-family comedy with a poster design that mocks the former’s switching the roles and supposedely doubling the laughs. Not a bad advertising approach mind you, I'm sure many rented one after glancing at the video box thinking it was the other.

6. DEAD HEAT duplicates GOODFELLAS - This one is really annoying. Same dark design with 3 protagonists posing above a street scene and the same typeface

shows a complete creative bankruptcy on the side of the promotional department. The utterly forgetable Keifer Sutherland crime thriller that somebody on the IMDb message board called “SEABISCUIT meets GOODFELLAS” could not come close to competing with Scorsese’s masterpiece so seeing them try is painful.

7. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL re-amps NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE - Lots of crude sloppy comedies have likewise Mad Magazine derived designs but the folks behind marketing the Ramones’ film debut didn’t look very far for an angle here - they just went with what worked for the previous years teen gross-out blockbuster. Squint and you’d think you’re seeing the same picture (especially with the tiny examples I’ve provided here).

8. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY redoes ANNIE HALL (as does the movie) and begat a flood of rom com movie marketing - A couple in a hesitant yet sexually tense moment always makes for a good poster picture for a romantic comedy,

right? Well just add a city skyline (most often New York, duh!) underneath and now you’re talking. Dozens upon dozens of recent rom coms have used this type imagery including SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, TWO WEEKS NOTICE, MAID IN MANHATTAN, ALEX & EMMA (also Rob Reiner), etc. Oh yeah, the Dudley Moore / Mary Steenburgen movie actually named ROMANTIC COMEDY had a similar image too.

9. CLOVERFIELD marks on THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW’s territory - The Statue Of Liberty gets a lot of abuse in the world of movie posters. In CLOVERFIELD its head gets blown off (same thing is shown

on ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK’s poster incidentely) and a long shot view shows us a stormy New York in turmoil. Looks a lot like the same painting style and tone used in THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW’s the Statue Of Liberty under ice image. The poster for the upcoming sludge through bad pop culture spoofs DISASTER MOVIE features our long suffering statue getting drowned in a tidal wave. Hard job it is being a giant symbol of freedom I guess.

10. TRANSFORMERS apes PLANET OF THE APES - Why would anybody want to recall the roundly rejected Tim Burton remake of the Charleton Heston “damn dirty ape” classic with a poster image that looks nearly identical? It seemed like TRANSFORMERS would’ve had its own shiny take on the aesthetics and wouldn’t have to stoop to this so was it unfortunately unintentional? Did somebody think the look and angle of the Ape design was cool and thought it was either forgotten or needed to be re-done and re-purposed? Whatever the deal, I can still barely tell them apart.

Okay! Now, I know there are lots of movie posters that have co-opted the designs of others that I missed so feel free to comment away.

More later...