HOW DID I MISS THIS?!?

A "Red Dawn" 2 disc special edition? When was this announced, and how did I miss it? I was just poking around in Walmart, when I spy this! Just sitting there! I've wanted a special edition of this for YEARS. Yes, yes, yes. This is a very cheesey movie. It is highly improbable. It screams 80s. It is full of pretty people. But I can't help it, I still love it. I love the idea (NOT OF WAR) of the teens fighting against all odds and triumphing over a massive military campaign. It's very David and Goliath. And these teens could have just hidden in the mountains forever, they didn't have to go back and fight, but they did it cause they're DAMN AMERICAN. YEAH. This is a VERY patriotic movie. Very Cold War. It's directed by John Milius, so what did you expect. Ryan and I have had many in depth "what if" conversations after watching this movie. And one of my teens (I'll never forget this) told me his dad MADE him watch it, "just in case, so he would know what to do". I'm still trying to figure out if his dad was messing with him or not.

It's not bad on extras. It's got a nice 30 minute feature with reminisces by Swayze, Thompson, Sheen, and Howell, where they mainly talk about how freaking cold it was the whole time. There there's some smaller featurettes on the making of the tanks they used, how they made the town look like a war zone, and how they trained the actors to function as a cohesive military unit. In the cold. Apparently at one point the wind chill was 80 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. Ugh. And on the main disc there's a "carnage counter" so you can keep track of death and destruction. I would have liked to see an actor's commentary, maybe some deleted scenes, but this whole set is still a great treat and a nice surprise.

So, cheesey? Without a doubt. But you cannot deny that this is an iconic movie. Everyone remembers the scene of the paratroopers parachuting down onto the school grounds, and the tagline-"In our time, no foreign army has ever occupied American soil. Until now." And I dare you to find me someone who has not, at one point in their lives, be it during a pillow fight or paintball war or capture the flag, that has, in the heat of battle, NOT screamed at the top of their lungs, "WOOOOLLLVEEERIIIINESSS!"

I love Red Dawn. Go Wolverines!

Two Years Worth of Movies

1997 and 1998 were big movie years in my life. I mean, I went to the movies A LOT. This is for two reasons. One, I worked at a movie theater for a time and got four free passes a week. (Yeah, I was everyone's best friend.) The other was John and Matt had moved away and I hadn't started youth group yet, so I didn't have a lot of people to hang out with. So, I'd go to the movies. A LOT. Sometimes I'd go to the movies for a seven oclock show, then stay for another movie at nine. Just had nothing else to do.

Here's what I went to see in 1997 (at least what I remember)-39

Air Force One - (one of two movies I saw SOOO many times because everyone wanted to see it using my free passes..I saw this at least 4 times)
Anastasia
The Apostle
As Good as It Gets - Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy)
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Batman & Robin - (I wasted my first free pass on this stinking turd)
Conspiracy Theory (the other movie I saw SOOO many times)
Contact
Face/Off
Father's Day
Fierce Creatures
The Full Monty
The Game
Gattaca
George of the Jungle
Good Will Hunting
I Know What You Did Last Summer
In & Out
Kiss the Girls
L.A. Confidential
Leave it to Beaver (I got paid to watch this movie in the theater in my PJs eating McDonald's)
Life Is Beautiful - (the film that convinced me that subtitled movies were ok)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
McHale's Navy
Men in Black
Mimic
My Best Friend's Wedding
The Rainmaker
The Saint
Scream 2 - (went to see this with Matty, and the beginning freaked me out SO bad, that when Matty said he was going to the bathroom, I grabbed him and wouldn't let him go, no sir.)
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Star Wars Trilogy - (This was a MAJOR event...most special fun times. We had it all planned out and everything)
Titanic - (saw this a lot because I could never seem to get all of my friends together to see it, so I would go see it with each one)
Tomorrow Never Dies
Volcano starring Tommy Lee Jones - (John got a major kick out of this movie)
Wishmaster

So I saw a bunch of movies, about 39, but that's not counting the number of repeats, like Star Wars, Titanic, etc. I saw probably at least one movie per week.

Movies I saw in 1998-51

54
Armageddon - (FIRST movie I ever saw at the new Randolph Cinemas..been in love with their surround sound ever since)
The Avengers - (GOD did this movie BLOW)
Blade
Blues Brothers 2000 (not as good as the first, but still entertaining)
Bride of Chucky
A Civil Action
Deep Impact - (Aw, this movie always makes me cry...made the boys cry too)
Ever After (hated this at first, but now I love it!)
The Faculty
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
I'll Be Home for Christmas (UGH, another SUCKY flick)
Jack Frost
Les Miserables
Lethal Weapon 4
Lost in Space
Major League: Back to the Minors
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Mask of Zorro
Meet Joe Black (the only reason I went to see this movie was because the Star Wars trailer was showing before it and after it...so I sat through 3 hours of CRAAAP...)
Mercury Rising
Mulan
The Negotiator
Next Stop Wonderland (oh, LOVE this movie...saw it with Jen at Kendall w/ the director and everything!)
The North End (saw this at a special screening at Randolph w/ Matty)
One True Thing
The Parent Trap (remake)
Patch Adams
The Patriot
Playing By Heart
Pleasantville
Practical Magic
Primary Colors
The Prince of Egypt
Psycho (so I went to see this movie, and I was early, so I entered the theater while they were cleaning up from the previous showing, and jack-crap-hole manager tried to kick me out because he thought I was trying to see the movie twice, and my ticket happened to be ripped JUST SO so you couldn't check the time...dumbheads.)
Quest for Camelot
Rush Hour
Saving Private Ryan - Golden Globe Award for Best Picture (Drama)
Shakespeare in Love - Academy and Golden Globe (Mus./Com.) Awards for Best Picture
Six Days Seven Nights
Star Trek: Insurrection
Stepmom
There's Something About Mary
The Truman Show
Urban Legend (This movie was so silly, I was actually yelling at the screen, which I usually don't do)
Vampires
The Waterboy (again, only went to see for the Star Wars trailer...but, more bearable than Meet Joe Black)
The Wedding Singer - (Saw this with John...we got a kick out of it)
What Dreams May Come
The X-Files (talk about fanboys....)
You've Got Mail (I won tickets to this by naming four movies Meg Ryan had been in-Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Joe Vs the Volcano, and Top Gun. The DJ had to actually check on the Top Gun. I was all, yeah, she was Goose's wife, hell-o, don't question my movie knowledge)

So I saw more movies in 98...had more time to. It sort of works out to one a week, but I know I did a lot of those "double features", too. But I saw a LOT of movies that year.

It's funny to look back at this list and think about the movies and where I saw them and with who and the funny stories that surround some of them. I guess it all goes back to how much I love movies, but more than that, I love the experience of going to the movies. DVDs are nice, but there is NOTHING like sitting in a darkened theater with your feet up, a big tub of popcorn and a soda, surrounded by surround sound. It's the tops.

Random movie news via Aint it Cool

Two interesting bits from the web site I visit most, Aint it Cool News. First, more proof that I am a geek, because I actually knew what this headline MEANT.

"Arwen replaces Sarah as The Incredible Hulk's main squeeze!!!"

I read that, and immediately without even having to think about it, knew that in the new Incredible Hulk movie, that the role of Betty which Jennifer Connelly had originated, was being taken over by Liv Tyler. Liv Tyler played Arwen in Lord of the Rings, Jennifer Connelly played Sarah in Labyrinth. I speak geek. Hee.

The second is news that is just so, so, SO awesome. I have been waiting, never thought it would actually happen, but it has. Get this-

"Yes it is true... mummy came in my house, Wolfman's got nards and it's totally not Bo-gus! MONSTER SQUAD on DVD!!!"

Oh YEAH. The Monster Squad is coming to DVD. On a totally RAD 2-disc edition, too. I don't know if anyone besides me and my brother have even heard of this movie, but we LOVED it as kids. It's basically The Goonies if they did a horror movie. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Very exciting news. Totally nostalgilicious.

Movie nostalgia

Netflix is a wonderful thing. SO many movies to choose from. I recently checked out a couple I haven't seen in YEARS...since I was like eight.

The Last Flight of Noah's Ark-Elliot Gould is a tough talking pilot who is flying a missionary, two orphans, and a load of animals when he crash lands on an island inhabited by two Japanese soldiers who don't realize WWII is over. They rebuild the plane into a boat and make it home. With little Ricky Schroeder!!

Hello Down There-A scientist builds an underwater home and lives there with his family for a month to prove it can be done. With a young Richard Dreyfuss (before American Graffiti, even!) as a wigged-out guitar player, head of "Harold and His Hang-ups". I remember watching that one on channel 56 on Saturday afternoons.

Free to Be You and Me-Marlo Thomas and myriad random friends tell stories and sing funny songs. Heavy 70s goofiness.

And old TV shows!

The Electric Company-Easy Read-ah, that's mah name, uh huh-Morgan Freeman
Land of the Lost-did the Sleestaks scare the crap outta anyone else?
Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries
Afterschool Specials-oh, the cheese, the cheese

How extremely entertaining. But I have to finish a post like this with a funny story.

When we were kids, and VCRs were just getting big, every Saturday Mom would take us to a video place next to the supermarket, Home Video Village. We could each rent a movie and keep it a week. While we both tended towards Disney movies, I preferred Hayley Mills and 70s and 80s stuff. My brother, at some point, ended up on a rotating basis of three movies-TRON, The Great Locomotive Chase, and The 12 Tasks of Asterix. He would rent one, then rent it again the next week, again the next week, and so on. After two or three months of renting the SAME MOVIE week after week after week, he'd switch to one of the other two...and so it went on...for YEARS. We used to beg him to rent something else, ANYTHING else...but he would not be moved. My whole family had those three movies memorized. Anyway, so one day, Mom leaves us in the store to go food shopping. She used to do this all the time, we were in there so often the guy who ran the place befriended us and used to set us up in the corner at this little kiddie table with any movie we felt like watching and we'd sit and amuse ourselves while mom got groceries. So one day, we're watching something, and there's a big commotion, but my brother and I are so into the movie we don't pay attention to what's going on. After a while, a cop comes over, and asks us about THE THREE GUYS WHO CAME IN AND ROBBED THE STORE. We looked at him and were all, "whuh?" It turns out that while we were engrossed, three guys came into the store and ripped off a ton of video equipment, cameras, VCRs, that was on display at the front of the store. I honestly don't remember because I wasn't paying attention in the first place. And then mom comes back and finds her babies surrounded by the police who can't understand how the stupid kids who are complete soup brains and couch potatoes don't notice a store robbery going on fifteen feet away. The guy who ran the place was actually laughing his head off despite the fact he'd probably lost about a few thousand dollars worth of merchandise. If I remember correctly, the guy told and re-told the story many many times to various customers who wanted to know about the kids sitting in the back of the store glues to the big TV set. Mom was exceedingly embarrassed. We were clueless. "Robbery? What robbery? What guy? What did he look like? There was a guy in here? What's a guy?" Yeah. And before you think, oh, they were probably little kids, kids don't pay attention anyway...I was at LEAST 8, probably closer to 10 years old.

Yes, that's a very embarrassing story. It is hilarious to me and at the same time frightening. Like much of life. But, like I always say, you may as well laugh than cry.

Yay! Movie Quotes!!

This is freakin' HILARIOUS.

http://www.thesurrealist.co.uk/movie.php

Check out this website and enter your name...it will give you a movie quote with your name in it. For instance, I got-

"I find your lack of Sarah disturbing."

As should you all, heh heh.

Godspell

So I just got done watching Godspell. I adore this movie, it's just so silly and fun and funny and lazy and happy and carefree. Everyone in the movie seems like they're having such a good time. It's fun to watch and I love the songs. I've been a big fan of folk music like Simon and Garfunkel and John Denver and especially Judy Collins for awhile now and the music in Godspell is reminiscent of this. And it has such great scenes of New York (the Trade Center while it was still being built!), I love the "baptism scene" in the big fountain in the beginning. And it is a HOOT to see Victor Garber playing Jesus, he's so young, and he has a HUGE afro, and he's...bubbly, and just so completely unlike Jack Bristow it's nuts. But I was doing some surfing around and I found the "Gospell motto", which I thought was cool, so I will reprint here-

Keep the corners of your mouth turned up!

Speak in a low, persuasive, tone.

Listen, be teachable.

Laugh at good stories and learn to tell them, cause as long as you're green, brother, you can GROW.

I love those. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and God save the people, day by day.

Oscar Picks!

Ok, here are my own personal picks for what will win tonight. What I WANT to win, is a whole other story.

Best Picture-The Departed
Best Actor-Forest Whitaker
Best Actress-The Queen
Best Supp. Actor-Eddie Murphy
Best Supp. Actress-Jennifer Hudson
Best Director-Martin Scorsese
Orig. Screenplay-The Queen
Adapt. Screenplay-The Departed
Cinematography-Pan's Labyrinth
Editing-Children of Men
Art Direction-Dreamgirls
Costume Design-Dreamgirls
Original Score-The Queen
Song-"Patience"-Dreamgirls
Makeup-Pan's Labyrinth
Sound-Dreamgirls
Sound Editing-Letter From Iwo Jima
Visual Effects-Superman Returns
Animated Film-Monster House
Foreign Language Film-Pan's Labyrinth
Best Documentary-An Inconvenient Truth
Documentary Short-Two Hands
Animated Short Film-The Little Matchgirl
Live Action Short-Eramos Pocos