AlmostAGhost

Eugene Levy always took me some getting used to, his performance is so bonkers. But I've grown to really love it, it's so funny.

Well the conclusion was it's "pointless" and I'm saying completely otherwise. The point is this is what this world is.

Will Mitch lose his mind and never return? Do the Folksmen figure out what to play? There's drama there, it's just not as showy as a drummer exploding. And I'd argue that's the point. That's the nature of such a quiet folk music world. The big drama is when the opening act opens with the song the next band was going to play. The jokes are quieter, the drama quieter, the music quieter. This isn't about rock stars, it's about a bunch of corny musicians.

I haven't seen the Frankenstein, but I do prefer as a pick too - I love that the classic Universal monster movies are being repped. They should definitely be looked at. Yea exactly. I think it's more fun to find greatness within a more narrow field. Like are these five movies related at all really? I guess we'll see. But I could easily start to see how all the #Unschooled movies worked and related and influenced each other as we went through them. But this feels like barely dipping your toe in the water.

i feel like Frankenstein may be taking that early/1920s-1930s slot is my only concern with it. i do think "horror" is way too broad of a genre for this. school was a pretty focused genre choice, they could've focused this down to like 'vampires' or 'slasher' or something. but i also imagine they'll do this theme every October.

yea i just learned of it a few weeks ago when i saw this other obscure film and i was looking up info about one of the actors and he was mostly known for Ganja & Hess. stoked for that too

This wasn't really my cup of tea, though I'm partly thinking that's because I did enjoy all the other school movies so much more. I will give this another shot farther down the road and see if I can get into it.

Also, will be cataloguing suggestions on this Letterboxd list https://letterboxd.com/almostaghost/list/unspooled-unghouled-suggestions/

yea the schedule is on lock, here's the artworked announcement

Oh definitely agree, and I didn't mean it should've ruined her. But like, it just didn't seem difficult in any way? Even if someone decides to do that, and is super progressive and absolute about it, I still think there's gonna be some complicated feelings there? Or not even complicated ones. I dunno, I've never been in the situation so maybe I'm out of place. But yea maybe making it almost mundane is a new view for it too.

And I was the other vote, this was just us! Heh. But yea it was definitely enjoyable, but it is the most "time capsule" of any of the films in the set we've seen, I think. I think one thing I kept coming back to was how quickly Leigh bounced back from her abortion. I mean, not that it was unrealistic, but I think it should have had some more emotion to it. I realize kids that age are pretty resilient and maybe it was her character a bit to not focus on it, but I dunno. I liked that issue was in the film, but I think that Crowe was so young that he didn't quite have the ability to tackle that situation with enough depth. That's a tough balance I guess for a teen comedy though, so maybe it was enough. I don't know what I'm talking myself into.

It is on Prime but not for free. It is on Hulu for people who subscribe to that I have this on DVD somewhere, it's a favorite though I haven't watched it in a looong time. I don't even have a DVD player anymore...

here's an article that answers the burning question that literally nobody ever wondered: was Deadly Mile High Club based on a true story? https://www.bustle.com/p/is-deadly-mile-high-club-based-on-a-true-story-its-a-common-fantasy-22859951

oh yea, Jett also returned the favor when Nirvana made the Rock Hall. they got a bunch of female musicians (St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, Joan) to fill in for Kurt. Pretty epic!

I think him calling her a "writer" is an accurate reflection, not of her job or studies, but of what her dumb-ass husband thinks she does all day. Totally fits the character. He doesn't know what a dissertation is or what she does on her laptop all day beyond 'writing'. Makes perfect sense. Great writing here by the screenwriter.

I enjoyed the f out of this. I can't nitpick it because it is flawless. I really liked some of the visual cues. Early on, the pilot and the dumb guy were talking and a small plane just casually taxied right behind them and that made me laugh really hard. Also I really loved the ending. I thought it was legitimately tense and well-shot, the whole 'escape from a box on a plane' bit. I was on edge! The very end too when they were divebombing the pilot was genius and maybe better than North By Northwest?

The winning fan-vote for the #BackToSchool mini-set is:

That quote was in a Rush forum too btw and it immediately went into the prog fans listening to Runaways songs and declaring how bad they were

Ha no I just googled it. Geddy Lee was asked about it! "The Runaways had a ginormous chip on their shoulders. I remember that show. We had trouble with our gear so our soundcheck got delayed and The Runaways never got one. But we were always good to whoever was opening for us. We had no bias against them because they were girls - none of that bullshit. I know they said that we were laughing at them when they played, but quite frankly they were too shitty to listen to. And 40 years later they have a story to tell about it. Who knew?"

I don't know what was Rush was thinking, but I can see it... prog is known for being a little snobby. 'We can play our instruments and look down on music that can't.' I've had arguments with prog-fan friends who dismiss any music that isn't based on skill like that. Of the course, the irony is Jett and Ford and the drummer West, all were very good. Maybe it wasn't Rush exactly, more like "Rush" and Jett was using the name as a pejorative.

Yea, Ford went on to a pretty solid career in straight-up metal, so that's not too surprising. It is interesting, and impressive, how this fairly simple band is so hard to define!

No way! Ha that's crazy. Why wasn't that mentioned in the movie? They should've been like, "Screw you, Neil Peart!" There is a video of the Runaways playing CBGB's in the like 1977 on youtube, so I guess at very least they were either punk-adjacent... or more likely, they were attempted to be thrown at the punk crowd to see if they stuck... and maybe they didn't? I really love the first Runaways record, I just relistened to it. I'll stick to my AC/DC comparison... slow heavy riffs with lots of innuendo. It's so much fun. It's honestly a shame that AC/DC got to continue doing that for 40 years and be a top-selling band of all-time and the Runaways didn't.

Wiki includes it in their list, so maybe they were, but in my view, The Runaways weren't really punk at all. They were far too good at their instruments and weren't trying to cause a ruckus or cause a commotion like the Sex Pistols or Ramones were. The last track on their first album was a 7-minute blues guitar thing, few to no punk band could or would do that! Honestly, they sound like AC/DC to me. I really don't see them in the same lane as punk that much. ("Cherry Bomb" perhaps.) I dunno, I'm not great with genres when it comes to music, except for the purest originators, it's usually hard to tell definitively.

I was looking at the movies I've watched with Stewart in it on Letterboxd, and putting aside the Twilights and the one super dumb blockbuster thing (Underwater), I've seen 5 of her artier movies and I rated them all 3.5. That is, I liked them all, but nothing super blew me away. Rarely was that her fault, either. But I take it as she's out there making really good stuff if you know where to look!