Movie Nights w/the Nephew thread

[AndyDursin]

That's a good double bill. John Wick 1 and 2 together would be way too much for one sitting!

[Monterey Jack]

That's a good double bill. John Wick 1 and 2 together would be way too much for one sitting!

Definitely...there are only so many times you can watch Keanu Reeves cap some dude in the head before it starts to get numbing. We'll probably get in the second one next time, along with something else (maybe Point Break, which he's already been introduced to -- sort of -- via that great callback gag in Hot Fuzz ). I try not to do doubles of a movie and its sequel, both to keep the individual movies fresher and as an incentive for the next movie night. You should have seen his reaction to how Kill Bill Volume One ended, knowing it'd eb at least a week until he found out how it all concluded.

[Monterey Jack]

Returned to a world of HIGH AD-VEN-TURE with the Nephew yesterday with a double-feature of Conan The Barbarian (released in 1982) and the 2011 prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (set in '82). He enjoyed the enthusiastic bouts of gore, boobies and sweet broadsword forging in the former (as well as a bevvy of Ahnuld grunts, cries and yells) and the puzzle-piece connectivity and gruesome tension of the latter (plus, the always-welcome presence of the lovely-yet-badass Mary Elizabeth Winstead). He was also delighted when I informed him the narrator of Conan was the voice of Uncle Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender (as well as telling him that the film contained one of my top-five favorite films scores ever). All-in-all a good day, and hopefully we can get these knocked out on a more regular basis in the future. Now that Stranger Things season 3 has gotten him in an 80s-tastic mood, perhaps the remake of The Blob might be on-tap...

[Paul MacLean]

I've actually I've been trying to get together with my own nephew for a screening of Conan The Barbarian. He and I both studied Karate at the same dojo for several years, so hopefully he'll respond to the Japanese / martial arts influence in the movie.

[Monterey Jack]

My nephew's a knife and sword freak (which sounds more alarming than it is), so something like Conan or Kill Bill is like Sword Porn to him.

[mkaroly]

I think CONAN THE BARBARIAN was the first R rated movie I ever saw in its entirety and unedited (unbeknownst to my parents). I was sleeping over at my friend Jeff's house and he was able to get the HBO feed from his neighbor (or something like that) but tuning his TV to channel 2.5 (by basically turning the dial halfway between channels 2 and 3). Lol...good times! I think we also watched THE BEAST WITHIN that night as well. Always appreciated the original CONAN - really cool score by Poledouris!

[Monterey Jack]

On vacation in Canada with my sister, her two youngest kids, and my Dad this week, so tonight with the nephew I watched the wonderful Big again. Seeing that movie around the age of Tom Hanks' character back in the summer of 1988 (when I turned fourteen), the joke was seeing his transform into an "Old Man", but watching it now, it's startling how young he looks. It's one of his most nimble, sly and heartfelt performances, and no wonder it earned him his first Oscar nomination. Hanks captures the gangly body language of an adolescent better than any adult actor I can think of (and considering the glut of "body switch" comedies that came out around that late-80s era, he had stiff competition), and the film remains sweet, laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly poignant, especially viewed through the viewpoint of an adult almost as old as my father was when he brought me to see it in theaters and who wistfully wishes he could pull a "reverse-Big" and enjoy the uncomplicated pleasures of childhood again, even if just for a day. The Nephew liked it a lot, laughing at the broader comedy bits and getting into the emotional underpinnings of the plot, even if he remarked that it was "messed up" that Hanks' mother (Mercedes Ruehl) basically spend the majority of the film thinking his son was kidnapped and being held for ransom. Hell, I found it a tad messed up when Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins actually sleep together, a plot development that would NEVER, EVER fly in a contemporary version of the film. But even that is viewed with surprising tact and sensitivity by director Penny Marshall and screenwriters Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg. It's a beautiful film that has transcended its high-concept gimmickry and stands today as one of the best and most charming comedies of the 80s.

And the Nephew remarked as the film was drawing to a close that Perkins resembles Milly Bobby Brown from Stranger Things a lot, and it was the first time that ever occurred to me (her 80s frizz definitely helped). Brown may look a lot like 80's-era Perkins 15 years from now.

[AndyDursin]

Yeah I've said it several times, she's the splitting image of her! Especially now that she has hair it's even more striking.

[Monterey Jack]

Yeah I've said it several times, she's the splitting image of her! Especially now that she has hair it's even more striking.

I haven't seen Perkins in a movie in ages, and it's been years since I've sat down and watched Big, so when the Nephew dropped that towards the end of the movie, I was like, "She DOES resemble MBB, doesn't she...?!"

[Monterey Jack]

Been a while, but finally got the Nephew back for another double-feature. His selections were the original Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (we had previously watched the 1978 remake a few years back) and Walter Hill's surreal 1984 rock musical fantasia Streets Of Fire. He really dug both films, getting into the paranoia of Don Siegel's original take on the Pod People (I then showed him Kevin McCarthy's great cameo in the '78 film on YouTube) and the neon-tinged thrills and rhythms of Fire. I also blew his mind pausing at one point and asking him if he recognized the beautiful young girl playing Ellen Aim, and asked him, "WHY DID YOU SAY HER NAME...?!", and he was like...

Anyways, it's always a treat sharing these formative classics with him (even if Streets Of Fire is a film that I myself didn't get around to until 2017 ).

[Paul MacLean]

Anyways, it's always a treat sharing these formative classics with him (even if Streets Of Fire is a film that I myself didn't get around to until 2017 ).

Don't feel bad -- I still haven't seen it!

[Monterey Jack]

Don't feel bad -- I still haven't seen it!

It's a cool flick, although I wish I had seen it as a teenager first, as I probably would have flipped for it around the age of fifteen. Still, the sheer visceral kick of the visuals and music (as well as the compellingly anachronistic 50's-meets-80's aesthetic) makes it worth a view. Plus, a gorgeous, 18-year-old Diane Lane ain't too hard on the eyes, either.

[AndyDursin]

Coincidentally I had just bought the German Mediabook of STREETS OF FIRE and rewatched it a couple of weeks ago. It's a fun movie, a little too "light" and undercooked, but I enjoy it for the visuals and overall mood. It helps if you like the songs and Jim Steinman's work in particular.

Oddly as cute as Diane Lane was back in the early '80s, I don't think she was a very good actress at the time. She's really stiff and unconvincing in THE COTTON CLUB -- probably was a little too young for that -- and I find her underwhelming in STREETS OF FIRE too. She doesn't project a lot of charisma -- she's just a pretty face -- and it's probably a little bit of a problem in that movie that she and Pare (who's serviceable, even if he was the 20th choice for the role lol) don't develop a lot of sparks. The role should've been filled by someone older and with more personality.

The character parts, by contrast, in STREETS OF FIRE are a lot more interesting -- Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis, Bill Paxton, even the throwaway role of a homeless bum is by Ed Begley, Jr. I liked the girl from THE WARRIORS also, she was cute back in the day.

[Monterey Jack]

Oddly as cute as Diane Lane was back in the early '80s, I don't think she was a very good actress at the time. She's really stiff and unconvincing in THE COTTON CLUB -- probably was a little too young for that -- and I find her underwhelming in STREETS OF FIRE too. She doesn't project a lot of charisma -- she's just a pretty face -- and it's probably a little bit of a problem in that movie that she and Pare (who's serviceable, even if he was the 20th choice for the role lol) don't develop a lot of sparks. The role should've been filled by someone older and with more personality.

Yeah, Lane took a while to grow into acting, but considering she was playing a pouty rock star who was only required to sing, gyrate and pose, I can accept that. The movie is so, as you say, "lite" that the perfunctory dialogue and dramatics don't bother me that much...it's just window dressing to prop up the electric song numbers and well-staged action sequences. Just as a 50's-meets-80's fetish piece (bobby-sox meets neon), the movie works just fine for me.

The character parts, by contrast, in STREETS OF FIRE are a lot more interesting -- Willem Dafoe, Rick Moranis, Bill Paxton, even the throwaway role of a homeless bum is by Ed Begley, Jr.

I constantly found myself smirking at Moranis referring to Amy Madigan as a "skirt" throughout the movie. That was very odd casting...usually in these kind of "rise to fame" stories, the sleazy, underhanded manager is played by an imposing, Robert Davi type, instead of someone who makes Eddie Deezen look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Like we were supposed to buy Lane wanting RICK FREAKIN' MORANIS over Michael Pare?!

Eh, it's a fun movie, so I can let it slide. Before I saw the film, I honestly had no idea the pop standard "I Can Dream About You" was written for it!

I liked the girl from THE WARRIORS also, she was cute back in the day.

I remember when I watched The Warriors for the first time, and how much Deborah Van Valkenburg reminded me of Vanessa Ferlito from Death Proof (she was also on a season of 24)

[AndyDursin]

Like we were supposed to buy Lane wanting RICK FREAKIN' MORANIS over Michael Pare?!

Yeah and that's why the casting is a little weird. Moranis is just a few years removed from "dad roles" -- I mean, she basically looks like one of his kids from HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS