I don’t wish to alarm anyone but it appears that Lee and Dan have turned out another completely coherent, thought out, on topic and hovercraft free podcast.
I know.
I’m scared too…
The highlights:
A hard film to explain to people what’s it’s about (well for Lee anyway)
Who’s read the actual book?
Lee and Dan explore their memories attached to this story and reading in general
Mourning lost childhoods
Dan mocks Lee for reading Doom novels
The library is out to get Dan
The effectiveness of the absence of music
Dan assures us he wrote a very good blog post regarding X and Y generations
Lee calls all other movie podcasters lazy bastards
It’s okay not to be cool
Artax!!!!!!
All twenty-year-olds are arseholes
Puppets are freaking awesome!
Sometimes authors are a little precious
Things get deep
Don’t give up your childlike wonder
The parallels to The Princess Bride
Dan says something controversial about The Princess Bride
Does anyone know how long Bastian is in the school reading??!?
Starring:Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleiter, David Warner
A hacker is transported into the world of a computer and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
As promised last week we have something new again this week! We would like to welcome Jeff Caddick as our guest Midnight Movie Crew member as we talk about the Disney computer film Tron.
Dan hadn’t actually seen Tron right up until about half an hour before we recorded this so it’s interesting to hear his take on it with completely fresh eyes.
Next week join us as we take to the skies (ummm for a little while) then spend time in the desert and finally go spelunking! That’s right next week we’re staying up and being bleary eyed for the John Woo film Broken Arrow!!
Will Dan and Lee agree on this one? Or will Broken Arrow be the one that drives a wedge between them? Come back next week and find out!
Starring:Al Leong, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin
Two teenage slackers: Bill S. Preston Esq and Ted Theodore Logan use a time traveling phone booth to collect historical figures from the past in order to pass their school report.
Welcome to a new era in the Midnight Movie Club, I know we haven’t been going that long but we are already making changes, we’re honing our craft, we’re refining the magic. We are changing over to a primarily podcast based blog now.
We know this will disappoint some of you but there are a couple of reasons why we’re changing the format and you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out what they are.
I know.
Sneaky.
This week we are as promised, talking about the 1989 film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Whilst preparing for this podcast Dan realised that he actually has a page of original artwork from the Bill and Ted’s Excellent Comic Book which ran for 12 issues in 1991.
Starring:Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson
Teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955 by eccentric genius Doc brown. He meets his parents in high school and accidentaly attracts his mother’s romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by causing his parents to fall in love, while finding a way to return to 1985.
You do realise that if Back to the Future was made today Marty McFly would be time travelling back to 1980 (that’s 30 years). That makes me feel very old indeed.
I never thought about it like that, I wonder if there would be as big a culture clash? I can’t imagine life without iPods and the internet. My idle time travelling fantasy would be to go back to even as late as 1990 with Wikipedia fully loaded on to my iPhone.
Forget sports books!! Imagine having the knowledge contained in wikipedia in the past!?
I think the culture clash would be lessened. Although you’re right – the absence of information at your fingertips is probabaly the biggest difference. That and the god awful music that the 80′s had. In fact I think “The Power of Love” may be the only decent song to come out of the whole decade (but what a song!).
It’s a great song, did you spot his cameo in the film too?
No, i didn’t realise he was in it
He’s the teacher who says “sorry guys you’re just too darn loud”
Ahh, well I suppose it’s hip to be square.
ZZ Top appear in the third film at the town dance and of course Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers appears in 2 and 3 as Needles.
Plus Madonna plays the waitress in number 2.
Actually she doesn’t, but I was feeling jealous of your astounding cameo knowledge
What about Mr Billy Zane?
Oh shut up.
I think Dan said in last week’s session regarding Scrooged that it was very hard to write something about the film because it was one of those perfect films and I’m finding the same thing happening this week with Back to the Future.
For me BTTF is an incredibly well rounded film that is perfectly cast, perfect pacing, great script, brilliant visuals and more than perfect soundtrack. So what more can you say than that? What is there to say that anyone who has watched this film doesn’t already know in their heart? Well hopefully something otherwise this week’s midnight movie club is going to be awfully bloody short!
So time for final thoughts then?…
Of course not! We’re the Midnight Movie Club! We can witter on about meaningless trivialities for hours without even drawing breath.
Hey, I just remembered some more cameos! Did you notice that Marty McFly’s uncle is the big brother from Wonder Years? Or that his sister is Ugly Betty?
I don’t think Ugly Betty was his sister, remember how old this film is.
I’ll prove it to you:
The actress is Wendie Jo Sperber, she was in 8 Simple Rules for four episodes, she’s actually been in a tonne of stuff apparently. But not Ugly Betty
Actually I’ve got to say that the BTTF wikipedia page is a little lacking.
Don’t those Wikipedia geeks know that we’re relying on them for our entire knowledge base? Come on you guys, get with the program!
There is a photo of the original Marty McFly there, because it wasn’t always Michael J Fox.
Is it me, or has Christopher Lloyd not aged at all in the 25 years since this was made? I saw him in the new Disney straight-to-DVD movie Snow Buddies recently and he looked exactly as old as he did in Back to the Future (*warning do NOT watch Snow Buddies if you can possibly avoid it*).
Perhaps it’s just testament to the skills of the makeup artists that they managed to age him realistically. But if it was then they certainly lost their skills by the time they got to Lea Thompson’s prosthetics. She looked just like Fat Bastard from the Ausin Powers films.
I am avoiding Snow Buddies now. I mean I was going to watch that tonight but now I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
You are completely right, Christopher Lloyd is timeless.
I found his aged makeup surprising actually, I never really paid attention until now that he had the makeup on in the 1985 time period. I’m glad they took care of that in the sequel with a rather clever plot device.
Lea Thompson’s prosthetics don’t hold up as well but are still passible in my opinion.
The problem is that she’s too young really to pass for a 40 year old (or whatever)
Yeah agreed, I think it’s easy to age a man.
It would be really cool if they made a Back to the Future 4 movie, with Michael J Fox as he is now reprising his role and using footage of the first three movies. It would be so intricate it would probably make your head explode.
It would NOT be cool if they did another sequel.
Yes it WOULD!
Dude we are so going to run a poll on this to confirm my absolute right’ness in this matter.
People will point and laugh at you in the street for saying something so absurd, your family will disown you, they will probably deport you… I hope they don’t do what they usually do and send you to Australia, we don’t need your ‘craving a BTTF part 4′ types here.
You know it makes sense man. Back to the Future 4: Back to the Past. I might even start putting together a script right now. I’ll even make sure there’s a part for Al Leong in it.
That’s what would have made BTTF more than perfect, some Al Leong in it.
Every film is better with Al Leong.
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Something that completely took me by surprise as I watched this time (I’ve seen this film a lot) was that in the cold harsh light of reflection Biff is an attempted rapist.
I mean that’s what is going on in that car, he’s essentially attempting to rape Lorraine. It’s something that I’ve never really considered before.They make a joke about how if it hadn’t been for Biff they never would have gotten together… yeah because he tried to rape your mother!?!?!?
Oh look the dude who tried to date rape Mum is waxing the car and accepting our packages?!?!?
Yes, very odd. However in the 50′s (and even 80′s) there was a different attitude to date rape and sexual crimes in general. it’s not completely inconceivable that such things would have been swept under the carpet.
But even given the social norms at the time you are right, you wouldn’t have him waxing the car.
When choosing the auto detailing company you’d probably go with the one that has strangers over the one with your attempted rapist, I’m just saying.
Something else that struck me as a little flawed is the home made wooden scooter that Marty takes off that kid, that just happens to have perfect skateboard trucks and wheels and a convenient back pivot point thingie (there must be a proper name for that back pivot thingie).
I wonder what effect on skateboard sales this movie had. Quite a significant one I suspect.
I remember that Michael J Fox did a public service announcement advising that the skateboard stunts in BTTF were heavily supervised and that kids shouldn’t try it at home. I guess there must have been some parent outrage at the time.
I know that even now I’m idly thinking about heading out onto the main road with amy’s Dora the Explorer scooter and and catching a ride by grabbing onto the back of a passing bus. That should be ok shouldn’t it?
worked in part 2 just fine
I suppose we should talk about the absolutely bloody marvel that is the time machine in this film. The Delorean is just an incredibly cool looking movie car. It’s iconic, I love how it looks like a spaceship in the barn when he first goes back in time.
I had the opportunity to go see it in person this spring, as on one of my long distance walks we stopped in a town that had one of the promotional models in a motor museum. But it was a Sunday and the place had just shut. I was devastated . They even had a couple of Batmobiles and an original A-Team van. Oh why is life so cruel?
We could have taken a tour of the pencil museum instead, but it just didn’t feel the same.
I can’t believe you passed up a pencil tour. No wonder you want a BTTF 4.
We’d just walked 15 miles, so we were feeling a little too leaden for a pencil tour (“leaden”! “pencils”! I am a comedy genius!)
Something that adds to the experience of watching BTTF is the attention to detail contained within. Especially with the subtle changes to the timeline. I never noticed it before that the chunk of ledge where Doc Brown nearly falls on the clock tower is missing later in the future when Marty returns to 1985.
There are the more obvious but clever nonetheless changes such as the Lone Pine Mall name change. I assume there’s a bunch more that I can’t summon up as I think about it now.
There’s another neat little reference at the start of the film which always catches my eye. When we first open the movie and see all the clocks ticking away, one of the clocks has a character hanging off the hands of the clock in very much the way that Doc would do so later in the film. It’s a neat little nod.
Actually I did also note the perfection of the opening sequence, where we do see all of the clocks indicating the owner of the room is obsessed with time. We also find out that he has used his family fortune to pursue his research via the news clippings, although why anyone would frame such awful news surprises me. Finally when Marty first enters, on his skateboard, the board rolls over to hit the plutonium case under the desk (or it might be his bed now that I think about it).
There’s just a LOT of set up in that scene which is very well done.
Yes. In fact the exposition in this movie is handled extremely well throughout. There is only one scene where it clunks a bit – the one where they are walking into the school and it is so obviously overdubbed.
And you’re also right about how wonderfully planned it all is. I can envisage the plotting sessions involving a hell of a lot of index cards pinned to a board with string linking up the various references and plot points. The planning for Back to the Future II must have been even more complicated! I imagine that’s why they decided to set number 3 in just one time period – to give their brains a rest.
Number two must have been a nightmare for the editing team having to splice it all together. I’m particularly impressed with the way they reshot the Jennifer scenes in the beginning, in fact there is a video that compares the two scenes and it looks really cool, the timing goes out slightly but it wraps up at the exact same moment which is very impressive.
Are we ready for final thoughts on this one? I’ve got nothing else. As you say, what do you say about a classic that hasn’t been said before.
Yeah I guess final thoughts are in order, I keep feeling like there should be something else for me to write but the proof is there on the screen, maybe we shouldn’t watch such good films
I’m happily going to give Back to the Future ten double shot soy flat whites out of ten. Perfect film, easy to watch over and over, can’t wait for the blu-ray.
Back to the Future may well be the gold standard to which all other Midnight Movies are measured. As you said, perfect plot, perfect script, and perfect cast. I therefore agree with your score: ten Diet Cokes out of ten. Hey, what’s the point of having a top score if you’re not going to use it?
There are one or two films that I plan on breaking the system with
Starring:Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Golez, Charles Grodin, Diana Rigg
Newspaper reporters Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo investigate the theft of a valuable necklace from Fashion Designer Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg). Their search takes them to London, where they soon team up with all the usual Muppet suspects.
One of the things I like about this movie is that it gives a lot of screen time to Fozzie Bear. I may be courting controversy here, but I think Henson had a tendency to focus far too much on Miss Piggy – who’s really rather a dull character when compared to the rest. Who wants to watch yet another rehash of the Kermit/Piggy romance when there are rubber chickens and “wocka wocka wocka’s!” to be had?
Unfortunately however there’s still far too much of Miss Piggy in the movie. Especially in the middle of the film when the action slows to a crawl. But at least the other characters get a little bit of room to shine whenever the pig isn’t around.
Miss Piggy doesn’t entertain me either, but then that trio of Kermit, Fozzy and Gonzo feels a bit tired (obviously at the time it wasn’t).
Heresy!
Fozzy was better in Muppets From Space.
As the Muppet films progressed it feels like Fozzie became less and less prominent in the lineup. He was criminally underused in Christmas Carol for example. I’m not sure I remember him much in Muppets From Space if I’m honest.
He was one of the commandos breaking into the lab and he was quite funny… for some reason I seem to recall he talked to someone living inside his finger..? I could be wrong.
No, you’re right. I remember now. He was very good in that movie, but then again that’s one of the best Muppet movies anyway, second only to the original.
I think he was good in Treasure Island too, but then there were Ghostbusters and Star Trek references in that film and that delightful Cabin Fever song.
Could I also highlight that at one point Fozzie picks up and plays a ukulele. Now that’s pure class.
Wow, I’m really shocked. I can’t believe I’m about to say this but I really didn’t care for this film. I feel really weird about saying this about a Muppets film as I love all the rest but this one I just wanted to turn off the entire time.
I hadn’t seen the Great Muppet Caper either, it was the one Muppets film that for some reason I had avoided, well maybe not avoided but I certainly never went out of my way to see it until now.
I mean it was nice to see some of the secondary characters but nostalgia will only take you a certain distance and there wasn’t enough for me.
See I think personally I really hated how this film kept breaking the fourth wall and referring to themselves making a movie, something they don’t do so often in the later films. The joke quickly became stale to me.
Really? Because that’s actually another one of the things I liked. I love a bit of fourth wall breaking. Especially as there is a fifth wall that they don’t break (that they are puppets).
Arrrrrg I like a little too but it was like every second minute!?!? Even the opening credits seemed forced. I think I had to go take my diabetic medication because that balloon scene was so sickly sweet and I don’t know… inbred? Can I say that it felt like Deliverence?
It’s not inbred, it’s post-modernism (at least that’s what my cousin told me)
LOL I mean Kermit played the banjo in the first one didn’t he?? It felt like this backwards country aren’t we quaint feeling, I can’t think of the right words. Bleeerg comes to mind.
You’re a hard man Mr Sargent
Did I like anything in this film?
Yes.
John Cleese and the lady playing his wife steal the whole movie. The whole movie. I expect personally that they are representing exactly what the English are like.
In fact I would be disappointed to discover the statement that there appears to be a pig climbing the wall would be met with any more than a slight eyebrow raise and a return to the discussion of the weather.
Well yes, that’s true. We are all like that. Although I’m surprised you noticed that eyebrow raise, what with all the corks hanging off your hat getting in your eyes.
Ouch. At least I don’t have Columbo wandering around my city parks trying to sell watches. That’s creepy. I was worried for a second that we would see Kermit’s face on a milk carton. Actually I wasn’t worried, at that stage nothing had happened apart from me wishing I was watching a different Charles Grodin film… Beethoven maybe?
Blimey, that’s harsh!
Isn’t it interesting though how quickly cameo appearances go out of date. Other than Cleese, Falk, and that guy from Crazy Like a Fox I had absolutely no idea who half of the guest stars were in this movie.
Yeah me too, was that Jim Henson at the club?
The chap with the impressive beard? Yeah that was him. I dream of a beard like that.
It was a very impressive beard!
Oh I did enjoy the ‘bears wear hats’ joke about Kermit and Fozzy being twins. There was little else to enjoy of course
What about that bit when Fozzie tries to pat his head and rub his stomach at the same time? And the whole Museum theft scene which was wonderfully silly. Those both had me in stitches.
I must admit though, despite my massive Muppet bias, I do think there are major flaws. There are far too many boring musical numbers, which seem to be all about Henson pushing the craft of puppetry as far as he can rather than the craft of entertainment. I’m thinking specifically about the bicycle scenes and the synchronised swimming number.
And as I say, there’s far too much Miss Piggy.
there were a few scenes where I don’t think it helped the storyline but they were trying to be super impressive with the puppetry effects which don’t get me wrong, were really bloody awesome just not serving the storyline.
Yes, and they really slowed things down. The pace of muppet films should be madcap, not crawling.
Confession time, I stopped watching with about half an hour to go. I couldn’t do it. I just wouldn’t stay up late watching this movie. I’m going to bed.
Right, that’s it! I’m looking for another Midnight Movie partner. You obviously haven’t got the stamina for it. You do realise we have Police Acadamy 5 on our list? If you can’t take The Great Muppet Caper, then what chance do you think you have with that monstrosity.
I think in all honesty that I have more of a chance sitting through that. I mean fair’s fair I dipped out during Miss Piggy’s water dance number.
I must admit I wandered out of the room for a little while at that point myself.
But by missing the last half hour you missed the film picking back up again. As I said previously, the movie is mainly worth watching for the beginning and the end. The final museum robbery scene is delightfuly anarchic.
I will go back and watch the end, I will if only to be a completist but I won’t promise to like it.
So final thoughts? The Great Muppet Caper is far from Henson’s best work, and the middle section drags horrendously. But for me it still maintains that innocence and, admittedly saccharine, tenderness that has been homogenised out of the franchise since Disney took it over.
I will leave my final thoughts tomorrow after watching the final half hour. I do warn you though if it doesn’t pick up I will savage your childhood favourite like those dogs savaged that woman last week in Moonraker!!
I give the Great Muppet Caper 7 out of a possible 10 cans of Diet Coke. Admittedly if it hadn’t been a Muppet film I’d have probably given it a 5 due to its inconsistency.
Ok I watched the last half an hour and was entertained, if you remove the whole middle of the film and several other indulgent sections then you’ve got a really great short Muppet film.
I thought it interesting that they tied the start of the film with them being in the air for some unknown reason and the end where they have a reason. Interesting, I didn’t say that I liked it.
Ok so my double shot soy flat white rating is a three out of a possible ten cups.
I just wouldn’t stay up and watch this film, I’d easily fall asleep to it.
Dan just finished editing next weeks podcast. That's two in the can, which allows the boys a nice weeks break.08:53:14 AM September 06, 2010from Facebook
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