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Post by kds on Jun 23, 2021 14:50:14 GMT
I'd posted before about my fondness for Batman.
I just saw that the Tim Burton Batman movie was released on this date in 1989, 32 years ago.
I was eight, going on nine, and I remember 1989 being a significant summer in my life. It was the first time my family and I took a big week long trip to the shore, Ocean City, MD. That July, we had a day of all day rain storms, so we went to see Batman, and I fell in love with the character. It's still my favorite Batman movie, and actually in my Top 3-5 favorite movies of all time.
(1989 was also the first summer I really got into sharks via seeing Jaws for the first time).
I also remember the hype around the movie, being called "Movie of the Decade," and seeing all of merch at the malls and on Ocean City's Boardwalk that summer.
It's surprising the success of Batman didn't lead a surge in superhero movies. That really wouldn't happen until the 21st Century.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2021 15:35:30 GMT
I remember the release of that movie pretty well. I was 12 or 13 when I saw it (my birthday being in July), and loved it. Most superhero movies and cartoons were really corny in those days, the idea to make them darker and grittier hadn't really taken hold at a massive pop level. (Think about the Superman movies from the late 70s and 80s.) That change in tone made Batman a really great fit for someone my age, too old for childish things ... but still willing and able to enjoy superheroes! I really loved that movie.
Then there was the soundtrack, which was also everywhere. While I liked quite a bit of what he had done up to then, I actually wasn't a big fan of Prince's work on it. Still, I thought it was cool he did it.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2021 15:51:03 GMT
KDS, I know you've spoken fondly of several mid-00s comedies before, and I think you've talked about it as a really good period for comedy in general.
I was just talking about this with some friends and wondered (assuming you agree with the premise that yes, it was a nice little peak for comedy compared to what came before and after): 1) why do you think it happened, and 2) why do you think it ended?
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Post by kds on Jun 23, 2021 16:47:46 GMT
I remember the release of that movie pretty well. I was 12 or 13 when I saw it (my birthday being in July), and loved it. Most superhero movies and cartoons were really corny in those days, the idea to make them darker and grittier hadn't really taken hold at a massive pop level. (Think about the Superman movies from the late 70s and 80s.) That change in tone made Batman a really great fit for someone my age, too old for childish things ... but still willing and able to enjoy superheroes! I really loved that movie.
Then there was the soundtrack, which was also everywhere. While I liked quite a bit of what he had done up to then, I actually wasn't a big fan of Prince's work on it. Still, I thought it was cool he did it.
I think I posted in another thread about how that soundtrack was in my Walkman during some beach trips around that time, maybe more like 1990-1991, so I still listen to it for summer nostalgia. Funny thing is thirty years later, after having way more darker versions of Batman, the Burton movie is seen as "campy," by younger fans. I think it actually had a perfect balance of light and shade.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2021 16:55:30 GMT
About the Batman movies getting darker and the first one being a perfect balance: as with many things, I think it's easy to overcorrect. In philosophy it's the "Hegelian dialectic," where you have a thing (thesis); then to "correct" it, the opposite (antithesis); then in reaction to that's overreaction, a combination (synthesis); which then starts as the new thesis...
It's really interesting to apply that idea to many, many things throughout history: culture, politics, arts, styles, etc.
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Post by kds on Jun 23, 2021 16:57:33 GMT
KDS, I know you've spoken fondly of several mid-00s comedies before, and I think you've talked about it as a really good period for comedy in general.
I was just talking about this with some friends and wondered (assuming you agree with the premise that yes, it was a nice little peak for comedy compared to what came before and after): 1) why do you think it happened, and 2) why do you think it ended?
Do you mean like those groups of Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Johan Hill type movies? 1. I think in the 1990s, Kevin Smith along with movies like American Pie and There's Something About Mary proved that R-rated comedies could be quite lucrative. So, in the 00s, we got Old School, Wedding Crashers, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Step Brothers, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc along with movies with similarly raunchy humor that didn't push the rating to R like Dodgeball, and Anchorman. 2. I think that era ended because by the 2010s, some of it began to get a little repetitive. It felt like the Will Ferrells and Seth Rogens of the world were just going through the motions and the writing was just a bit stale (ie. Daddy's Home, Anchorman 2). Maybe it was a cultural shift too. It could be the rise of Me Too, that would make a movie like 40 Year Old Virgin or Superbad "problematic" now. Or, it could just be the natural end of an era, like the Golden Age of Second City / SNL comedies from 1978-1993. Edit - And maybe this just speaks to how much I've checked out on movies since having a kid. I could not think of one...not one....comedy from the last 3-4 years. I even did a Google, and I've heard of most of them. I saw the Ferrell / John C Reilly Sherlock Holmes movie come up, that was supposedly about as funny as an amputation. And some sequels that I'd yet to check out, like Super Troopers 2 and Zombieland Double Tap.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jul 1, 2021 13:15:49 GMT
Dick Van Dyke is one of my favorite actors, so I always watch when he does an interview. Just the fact he is 95 and still sharp as a tack makes it worth watching, too.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 1, 2021 20:23:31 GMT
I hadn't heard of this before, but just reading this review of the documentary "Summer of Soul" by drummer and musical encyclopedia Questlove (of the Roots) has me very interested! It is about a series of outdoor concerts of jazz, soul, R&B, and other black-dominated genres in Harlem in summer 1969. I didn't even know there was such a series, but it seems there are shows from Stevie Wonder, the 5th Dimension, Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson, and more.
The documentary is on Hulu and in theaters.
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Post by carllove on Jul 1, 2021 21:56:34 GMT
I hadn't heard of this before, but just reading this review of the documentary "Summer of Soul" by drummer and musical encyclopedia Questlove (of the Roots) has me very interested! It is about a series of outdoor concerts of jazz, soul, R&B, and other black-dominated genres in Harlem in summer 1969. I didn't even know there was such a series, but it seems there are shows from Stevie Wonder, the 5th Dimension, Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson, and more.
The documentary is on Hulu and in theaters. I’m thinking about watching this over the holiday weekend. How have we never heard of this before? The Fifth Dimension is one of my favorite groups. Stevie Wonder is a musical genius! Should be both interesting and entertaining.
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Post by carllove on Jul 3, 2021 17:30:36 GMT
I hadn't heard of this before, but just reading this review of the documentary "Summer of Soul" by drummer and musical encyclopedia Questlove (of the Roots) has me very interested! It is about a series of outdoor concerts of jazz, soul, R&B, and other black-dominated genres in Harlem in summer 1969. I didn't even know there was such a series, but it seems there are shows from Stevie Wonder, the 5th Dimension, Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson, and more.
The documentary is on Hulu and in theaters. I’m thinking about watching this over the holiday weekend. How have we never heard of this before? The Fifth Dimension is one of my favorite groups. Stevie Wonder is a musical genius! Should be both interesting and entertaining. I just finished watching this and highly recommend it! Stevie Wonder on drums - What? The story of how The Fifth Dimension came to record Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In - almost unbelievable! The Edward Hawkins Singers - Devine! Orange fringed vests, lime green polyester, Afros, and the Black Panthers working security. Very entertaining time capsule of a forgotten time and event.
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Post by kds on Jul 19, 2021 19:55:36 GMT
The TBS comedy anthology series - Miracle Workers - is back for a 3rd series. This year's theme is The Oregon Trail. My wife's a bigger fan than I am, but it's pretty entertaining.
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Post by kds on Jul 27, 2021 15:04:34 GMT
Just over a year and a half since the teaser trailer was released, we finally got a trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It really doesn't show a whole lot more than the teaser did, and that's not really a terrible thing as sometimes trailers can show a little too much.
I have to admit though, I'm getting pretty excited at the idea of a third installment, finally.
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zinczag
The Surfer Moon
Posts: 151
Likes: 90
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Post by zinczag on Sept 6, 2021 20:18:30 GMT
youtube getting better - it recommended recently the adventurous crime-punishing 60s British TV series "The Saint" with cool intro music, featuring "James Bond" Roger Moore playing...James Bond-ist character, in fact. But when this series played, Sean Connery been James Bond, *then* Moore when he finished this series. This ep began the journey:
Each serie starts with somebody recognizing leading character (everybody around galaxy knows "famous Simon Templar")/the guy telling who he is to, say, hotel he stays at receptioner, then Moore looks straight at viewers with halo shining above, intro starts playing.
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Post by carllove on Sept 7, 2021 11:59:49 GMT
youtube getting better - it recommended recently the adventurous crime-punishing 60s British TV series "The Saint" with cool intro music, featuring "James Bond" Roger Moore playing...James Bond-ist character, in fact. But when this series played, Sean Connery been James Bond, *then* Moore when he finished this series. This ep began the journey: Each serie starts with somebody recognizing leading character (everybody around galaxy knows "famous Simon Templar")/the guy telling who he is to, say, hotel he stays at receptioner, then Moore looks straight at viewers with halo shining above, intro starts playing. OMG - "The Saint" is so good! In the days before Fox and cable, when there were only about 4 or 5 stations on the TV, one of my local stations used to broadcast re-runs of "The Saint" in the afternoons after school. I can't remember if it was the same station that had "Star Trek" and "Gilligan's Island" or a different one, but we had great stuff to watch after school when I was a kid. I have probably seen every episode. Roger Moore brought such a mischievous bent to Simon Templar. I am pretty sure that they started the afternoon airings not long after the series ended. I remember being 7 or 8, the first time I saw it, which would have been around 1969/1970. Enjoy!
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Post by kds on Sept 8, 2021 18:02:40 GMT
First world gripe of the day.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife has been delayed....again. This time by one week - from Nov 11 to Nov 19.
In the grand scheme of things, one week isn't huge. Except that the weekend of November 19 pretty much when we kick off Thanksgiving / Christmas celebrations. Combine that with my son's early December birthday, and weekends are at a premium for the remainder of 2021.
Come to think of it, even before having a family, I cannot remember the last time I went to the movies in late November / early December.
So, despite waiting 30 years for a third movie, followed by waiting nearly two years for its release (assuming it happens), it looks unlikely that I'll be able to see it in theaters. And, I have to say, as much as I really don't much care for going to the movies, that's kind of a bummer.
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