JeffreyMcDonald

RLM also did a review. Talk about a crossover that I would LOVE with HDTGM! Their review is here

Paul mentioned in the "400 Blows" episode of "Unspooled" that he's never seen this film. OH MY! They HAVE to do this movie. It is so great/terrible/great! One of my favorites and (to quote Paul) "it makes NO sense".

Has John Travolta silently snuck his way into becoming the new Nick Cage? Considering some of his roles that I've seen recently...I'm kind of enjoying the unbridled insanity. And what is his most unfortunate facial hair + head hair combination? Battlefield Earth Swordfish Killing Season The Fanatic something else?

It's like a cross between Brazil, Repo Man, some sort of Cronenberg film, and Garbage Pail Kids.

Paul mentioned this film on an episode of "Unspooled" so thought I'd try to resurrect the recommendation again.

Holy Moly! I stumbled across this movie last night because it's streaming for free on Prime and Adam Rifkin interests me. IT IS INSANE! I think this would blow the HDTGM? gang's minds. Would love to hear them talk about it.

I want to keep it on the list, but I have no idea where. I found it to be a cruel movie filled with...not hateful characters, but characters I definitely did not want to be around. And yet it was so compelling. One of those films I'm very glad that I watched, but I think I might never want to go through that experience again. Ouff, this movie. I am more of a person who goes to film for a bit more escapism and I don't really prefer a lot of melodrama; but when so compellingly written and performed such as in this film, it's really difficult to resist.

It was a good episode looking back. As far as a top horror list a top 15 for me might be (this is off the cuff, so don't hold me to it) : The Bride of Frankenstein Alien Halloween Nosferatu ('22) The Thing ('82) Night of the Living Dead Dracula ('31) Cat People ('42) Evil Dead 2** Dawn of the Dead ('78) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Exorcist Frankenstein Jacob's Ladder Re-Animator Non-American mentions: Susperia, Audition, Godzilla, The Wicker Man (if you can find a longer cut) **In a just world, this scene alone would have made Bruce Campbell as celebrated as much as Buster Keaton:

One of my favorite movies of all time. It's not just a fun good "not-really-bad" film, like some of the F&F franchise. RepoMan is a wonderfully fantastic cult/midnight movie. That said, they could cover a lot of Criterion movies. Especially "The Lure", just so we could hear their minds explode at how nuts that movie is.

Bumping this up. I just watched it for the Junkfood Cinema podcast* and it would be perfect for HDTGM treatment. Best theme song since "Never Too Young To Die!". yor!...Yor!...YOOOOOR! (*a lot of movies JFC has covered would!)

I agree that it belongs on the list. Somehow I grew up not having read the book nor having seen the film. Like Paul and Amy, I always looked at it as a "homework movie". What a delightful film! That's why I like this podcast. It gives me the excuse to watch many of these films that I've missed. Regarding their discussion on the accents: I live in Boston and have family in the Georgia and Texas. In all of those places I have several close people to me who have fought and trained themselves to get rid of their childhood/cultural accents in order to distance themselves from the stereotype associated with those accents. So, for me, it's not unrealistic that Atticus Finch might have worked to have a more polished accent in , say, law school or something. My favorite example is Jonathan Harris who payed Doctor Smith on the original Lost in Space. He was born and raised in The Bronx, NY. When asked about how he got rid of his accent he replied in that Doctor Smith voice, "I worked very hard at it, my dear boy."

I'm a little surprised that Manhunter didn't come up in the episode. Anthony Hopkins' take on Lector was quite different from Brian Cox's version of the character; yet Manhunter is such an interesting flick regardless.

I remember the movie really being very shocking and disturbing at the time it came out. I left the film ill to my stomach, which seems almost silly compared to modern cinema. Yet, watching it again, it still manages to disturb me. While I'd argue that this is more "thriller" than "horror", the pure lack of representation of either on the list have me voting "yes". That aside, this film definitely holds up to the test of time. I like Paul and Amy's discussion about the direction, and how it's very adept because we don't notice it. Also enjoyed comparison of the darkness of SotL vs. the bleak nihilism of "Se7en". Very astutely noticed, that!

This movie left me with a disturbed and gross feeling. I loved it. As far as remaining on the list, I have somewhat the same attitude that they took on the podcast. I don't mind that it's there (I voted "yes"), but wouldn't cry to see it go. Separating art from the artist is so damn complicated. I can not stand abusive men, yet I still listen to James Brown, Miles Davis, and The Beatles. And if that makes me a hypocrite, then I'm am genuinely disturbed by that. At the very least, as an admittedly weak rationalization, I'm hoping I can enjoy Polanski films made before any allegations; because Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and Repulsion are all films worth watching and studying. And to Paul's point, a movie is a collaborative art form. Even in the auteur era, tens to hundreds of people work on films, and their incredible work should not be diminished because of the detestable actions of the perceived figurehead. Honestly, it's not too difficult for me to separate art from the artist. That's one of the reasons I hate biopics. I care more about the actual piece or art than the douche that made it. I think it was Marc Maron who said something like, [heavily paraphrased] "Almost all the people who make interesting art are terrible humans."

Catching up on older episodes during the (permanent?) hiatus. I definitely go with the original and am glad it made it in. Both A&D make good points, but A was really reaching and nitpicking at points (and after this and the Pennies episode, I fear for her life choices). This episode makes me really bummed that we're going to not get new ones, as far as we know. The show is simultaneously everything that was both great and frustrating about the show. One of the weirdest things is that in the extras of the re-make, they never once mention the original film. They talk about it as a strict adaptation of the novel, even though there clearly are scenes that are shot-for-shot the same. That's so strange.

Watching "Gamer" the other night makes me want to bump this up. It's so much more fun. Again, this isn't in the "bad movie" category, but more in the "This is so bat shit crazy, how did this get made?" category (which are my favorite episodes).

I just joined because of so many people on this site discussing it. Looks like fun (and like it might draw me in as much as Discogs) http://letterboxd.com/morgodth/

THIS. Probably the best book that I read this year was "So You've Been Publicly Shamed" by Jon Ronson. The author dives deep into online shaming and outrage. It is amazing how a simple joke or sarcastic remark or unwarranted speculation would ruin a person's life because "the internet" jumped to assumptions and conclusions. I don't want to shut out the voice if someone was violated, but considering what an incredibly outspoken person Devin has been for women's rights, including getting caught in the wrath of the gamer gaters, as someone above said, let's give him the benefit of the doubt, yeah?

I quite liked the film, but I'm leaning "soft no". The comments so far haven't really swayed me from that, but I'm about to listen to the podcast episode and maybe that will. I found the theatrical/stage acting, especially in the early half of the film, to be really distracting. From the commentary track, Patty McCormack said that the "staying true to the stage play" approach to the performances was pretty much done on purpose, but it didn't quite work for me. At the same time, there were some amazing performances at the tail end of the film; and the disjointed way that they didn't seem to fit with the earlier performances somehow added to the creepiness of the story. I kind of want to vote "yes" just to annoy all the genre haters on the board, but as a whole the film did not quite come together enough for me. Podcast time... update: haha, RE: The Podcast: using Rhoda to call out the sociopathy and self-absorption of Baby Boomers and Millennials was so funny that it may have nudged me over into a "soft yes". Similar to what Devin described, I really like "plays on film". I like talkies, which is why I fell for Tarantino and Kevin Smith in the '90s. I love "My Dinner with Andre". But I guess what I really like are scripted conversations, because I still think that the "for stage" kind of acting in the film not really for me. But the "camp" value is tempting, and the podcast did help me open my eyes to that. I think of this being a movie that John Waters probably loved growing up, and that makes me want to vote "yes". Actually, I just found this quote from Waters: "I wanted to be Rhoda. I pretended I was her. Why? I wanted to strike fear in the hearts of my playmates" source: https://www.theguard...ers-role-models O.k., that clinches it. Changing my vote to "yes".

^Thanks for that advice. I'll hunt it down. It'd probably make for a great Halloween Canon episode :-)

Is there a definitive release/version of this? Following all of the releases of the film is so confusing that I never watched it, not knowing which version to hunt down. Even the most recent "final cut" version apparently is 91 minutes in the US and 95 minutes in the rest of the world, or something like that.

Interesting. I love classic ('40s-'50s) noir and absolutely hated this movie when it came out. I'd be really curious to see it again now, almost 20 years later, and see if I could appreciate it in a way that I couldn't when I was younger.

It's a HUGE factor. They basically folded the budget of the failure-to-launch "Star Trek: Phase II" TV series into "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" budget which dramatically inflated the budget from what it really was, making if extremely unprofitable even though the box office wasn't terrible. To earn some of that back they pretty much stripped STII:TWoK down to the absolute bare bones. It's actually pretty amazing, considering what they had to work with. (for similar reasons, I am very forgiving of Hellraiser IV: Bloodline". Talk about some incredible budgetary & studio shenanigans!)

For me "The Big Sleep" is the quintessential. Drug addiction, prostitution, pornography, gambling, etc., all discussed in a coded (literally, with the production code) 1940s way. Also, the lines between Bogie and Bacall are classic. I mean, Raymond Chandler filtered through William Faulkner? Yes, please. "I don't like your manners." "[...]I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings." "Out of the Past" is another personal favorite, but so many to choose from...

Agreed. "Anyone" definitely should not be the standard of a "great film" nor of "The Canon". Art that anyone can appreciate tends to be terrible or, worse, mediocre and harmless. I kind of hope that the majority of The Canon gets filled with titles that not everyone would think are "great". (speaking of, isn't it about time some David Lynch films got nominated?)