PODCAST: 112 "True Lies" (1994) - an ArnieFest Installment w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Watched:  07/09/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  No idea
Decade:  1990's
Director:  James Cameron

More ways to listen

ArnieFest continues with a mid-90's film that dares to ask "what if James Bond were married? And Austrian? And American? And Tom Arnold was there?" It's the action comedy sensation that everyone in film school had to write a paper about and feel bad for enjoying. SimonUK and Ryan go on a less-than-secret mission to revisit this Arnie favorite.

The Signal Watch PodCast · 112: "True Lies" (1994) - ArnieFest w/ SimonUK and Ryan

Music:

Main Theme - Brad Fiedel, True Lies OST
Nuclear Kiss - Shirley Walker, True Lies OST


Playlist:

The Signal Watch PodCast · Arnie Fest

Bruce Lee Watch: The Big Boss (1971)

Watched:  07/21/2020
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1970's
Director:  Lo Wei

I've only ever seen two Bruce Lee movies, but - like everyone - I like the *idea* of Bruce Lee.  His byzantine relationship with America and Hong Kong, his cocksure manner that he could 200% back up, his ability to synthesize the old into the new, his drive and his ability to cut to the quick of reality in a few spare words that it comes off as spiritualism.

Be water, indeed.

The Big Boss (1971) is not Lee's first movie.  He'd been a child actor before getting sent to the US (where he was born and so had citizenship - his father touring in the US as a performer at the time of his birth) for street-fighting and headng down a bad path.  Lee had starred in 20 movies or so in Hong Kong, and appeared on US television as Kato and other roles, as well as appearing in the Chandler adapted film Marlowe (he's good, but his exit is not great).

He returned to Hong Kong to find out he was a bit of a star thanks to The Green Hornet, and was hired by Golden Harvest, who put him in The Big Boss.  By American standards of 1971, it's a low-budget production.  The story is fairly straightforward.  And Lee is used very strangely.

According to an interview attached to the disc, The producers weren't sure which of the two main characters at the start of the film would be the hero of the story, so Lee's character just sort of watches from the sidelines.  Apparently the producer, Raymond Chow, liked what he saw, because he canned the director and put Lee in the rest of the film - and the rest is history.

When he's finally allowed to cut loose, Lee is like a magnesium flare suddenly bursting into the film.  His martial arts are totally different, he's the fully formed, swagger-prone Lee you know.  The beginning of the movie is a decent set-up, if a bit stiff, but once Lee enters the fray (breaking a promise to his mother not fight), the rest of the movie takes off like a shot.  Including simple, dramatic scenes.

In a way, it's like seeing a character dropped in from another movie, and I am not bagging on 1970's martial arts films, but there's a reason The Big Boss kick-started Lee's superstardom.  He's really frikkin' good and clearly an innovator of character and fighting style. 

I won't oversell the actual film.  It's creaky and clunky, and marginally more adult than I had expected (some light nudity and sexuality paired with an axe to the head or two, and piles upon piles of dead people).  And there are plot holes.  But when it takes off, you don't really care all that much. 

Mostly I want to know what happened to the girl you see selling snow cones at the beginning.  I kept thinking she'd be relevant - but not so much. 

Here's to you, snow cone lady.

Watch Party Watch: The Stepford Wives (1975)

Watched:  07/17/2020

Format:  Amazon Prime Watch Party

Viewing:  First

Decade:  1970's

Director:  Bryan Forbes

The Stepford Wives (1975) is a movie you will absolutely guess how it works and what it is, and how it will end, and you should absolutely still watch it.  

Starring Katharine Ross (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), it's a New York City woman with two young girls and a husband as they move into the suburban town of Stepford, CT.  Good schools, big houses and yards, it's a post WWII dream.  Immediately we learn that Joanna's (Ross) husband didn't actually consult with her about the move, which she found out was a done deal after she saw the house and agreed to it.  But she let that slide.

Noirish Melodrama Watch: The Sign of the Ram (1948)

Watched:  07/20/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1940's
Director:  John Sturges

A sort of gothic noir, The Sign of the Ram (1948) is a peculiar film.  Set in a sprawling English countryside home, a seemingly happy family welcomes a new secretary into the fold (Phyllis Thaxter).  She's to be the aid, in particular, to the beautiful, young, wheelchair bound stepmother to the family. 

The film is a showcase for actress Susan Peters who had screen success until a hunting accident left her in a wheelchair.  She's actually fantastic in the role, which is that of the antagonist.  This is, apparently, the screenplay she finally accepted after being asked to play a chipper Pollyanna overcoming adversity in offer after offer.  I'll not play armchair psychologist, but it's a hell of a heel turn for Peters to take on - but she nails it, showing tremendous range in the single role (young actors, take note: you can play all sorts of things with an angry character and none of them have to read "angry"). 

That said, there's something both entirely believable about the tension at the center of the film - a family completely dominated by the iron willed matriarch who plays everyone like puppets without them ever noticing it - and a sense of melodrama that skews a bit too much toward telegraphing where the film is headed. 

It's well shot, Peters and Thaxter are great, but I can't say it was exactly my cup of tea.  It was clearly made in the shadow of stuff like Rebecca, but never quite hits those notes.  But for a solid melodrama, you could do worse.

Musical Watch: Hamilton (2020)

Watched:  July 3, 2020
Format:  Disney+
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2020/ 2010
Director:  Thomas Kail

Certainly the most discussed musical in decades - and with far better reason than most (whether you like it or not) - Hamilton had become a cultural event well before Disney+ released a recorded version of the show on the platform on July 3rd.  This was not a film adaptation like we've seen in the last few years - like Les Miserables or even Cats.  Movie stars who can carry a tune were not swapped out for the Broadway cast, and we're not decades away from shows debuting, making a splash, touring and becoming so ubiquitous, you might as well make a movie because why not?

Instead, Hamilton (2020) as released is the version shot on stage roughly four years ago, starring mostly the original cast, which - since 2016 - has since scattered to the four winds, seeking their Hamilton-derived fortunes (I actually like Leslie Odom Jr's new record, Mr., for whatever that is worth to you).  The film existing is a wonderful change for Broadway, who has told themselves lots of stories about the need for the immediacy of theater's live experience and has usually only dropped original cast recordings as documents of how a show was conceived and presented.  Directed by the show's actual director, Thomas Kail, the "film" of Hamilton is thoughtfully, and, indeed, artfully shot.  Heck, last week "One Perfect Shot", a twitter account with the best in cinematography, included a shot from Hamilton.

French Noir Watch: Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

Watched:  07/18/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director:  Louis Malle


Look - I'd never seen this movie, thoroughly enjoyed it, and would quickly recommend. But I can also imagine it hits the buttons of every pretentious film dork out there.

A shining example of (a) made in the 1950's, (b) being French (b) more or less New Wave (c) noir, (d) with a fatalistic, downbeat ending and (e) the soundtrack is by Miles Davis.  Ferchrissake - I can just see my film school instructors getting the vapors talking about this one.

And, you know, deservedly so.

Monroe Watch: "The Seven Year Itch" (1955)

Watched:  07/12/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1950's
Director:  Billy Wilder

I found this movie some hard going, but given it starred Monroe and was directed by Billy Wilder, I'm going to give it some grace.  It's not just a product of its time, it's a distilled crystallization of its time.  Add in that it's been so copied from, borrowed from, and it's novelties have been so co-opted and, in fact, are a mainstream method of visual comedy for the past 20 years, it's a bit odd to see it in its nascent form.

Based on a stage play, The Seven Year Itch (1955) is a movie about a married man who sends his wife and young son out of New York City and into the country during the hot summer months so he can get some work done, kick cigarettes and lay low.  Until he returns home the first night and finds Marilyn Monroe living upstairs, sub-letting his neighbor's apartment.

PODCAST: "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" - Avengers Countdown 15 w/ Jamie and Ryan!

Watched:  07/09/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  Third or Fourth
Decade:  2010's
Director:  James Gunn

For more ways to listen

It's Family Issues in Spaaaaaace! Join Jamie and Ryan as we consider the second installment in the unlikeliest of the Marvel movie sub-franchises! After a ragtag bunch of misfits comes together, what's next? And what makes this series different from other Marvel films? It's all here! Check it out!

The Signal Watch PodCast · 111: "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" Avengers Countdown 15 w/ Jamie & Ryan

Music:
Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) - Looking Glass
Father and Son - Cat Stevens



Playlist:

The Signal Watch PodCast · Avengers Chronological Countdown (w/ Jamie and Ryan)

Random Watch: Palm Springs (2020)

Watched:  07/15/2020
Format:  Hulu
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2020's
Director:  Max Barbakow

To get it out of the way: this movie featured a song I used to love but had not heard it in 30 years, and it kind of freaked me out.  So here's to The Brazilian, from Invisible Touch by Genesis.*  Middle School Me was delighted to hear it again.

Also - to get it out of the way:  SPOILERS

I highly recommend watching this movie with zero spoilers, including skipping the trailer.

Invasion! Watch: War of the Worlds (1953)

Watched:  07/11/2020
Format:  Criterion BluRay
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade: 1950's
Director:  Byron Haskin

War of the Worlds (1953) the movie and the Mercury Theatre radio play from 1938 are so baked into my formative years, they're alongside Superman, King Kong, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and other popular fictions that make up the mythology and common language for a lot of born in the shadow of the mid-20th Century.

I saw the movie after buying and listening to the Orson Welles radio program when my dad found out I was interested in the radio show and the events surrounding it that I'd read about in a magazine.  My dad, always one to say "if you liked that, you need to check out this", got me to the video store within a few days and we sat down and watched it together.

What's remarkable is how genuinely *thrilled* I was by the movie, in both senses of the word.  The movie only has one or two quasi-jump scares, but - as was the novel (which I finally read about 15 years ago) and the radio show - the movie is so relentless in putting all of Earth on its heels, from the moment the three pals approach the ship waving a white flag onto get atomized, it's some weird viewing.  There's no brilliant but dangerous plan to be enacted that defeats the aliens - humanity loses this one.

As I've pitched the movie - in the middle of a pandemic, it's a lovely reminder of the time germs were our friends.

Lovingly restored by Paramount and just released by Criterion, War of the Worlds is a movie geek's dream.  There's so many technical aspects to the movie worth discussing, from the original three-strip technicolor to the construction of the Martian crafts, to the myriad visual effects, matte paintings and absolutely perfect sound effects - an army of character actors, and two leads who've somewhat otherwise fallen through the cracks of film nostalgia - it's an amazing technical achievement, done so well it holds up as a visual masterpiece.  And, in fact, with this restoration, is just an astonishingly crafted, visually beautiful film.

If the last time you've seen the movie was from the 2005 re-release, run (don't walk!) to watch this version, which recovers the original color palette employed in almost punchy candy colors, restores the visual effects to maximum effectiveness, and has cleaned up audio and re-created sound effects by no less than Ben Burtt.

The movie features the typically generous collection of extra features that get me to pay the entry fee for Criterion discs.  There are a few documentaries, the 1938 radio drama, an interview from San Antonio's KTSA with Orson Welles and HG Wells, and more.

The movie itself is just as gripping as ever.  From small town America to the final scenes in the fall of Los Angeles, it's anchored by focal characters Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) - a scientist and professor of Library Science, who happened to be there when one of the initial craft came down and are there throughout.  And, of course, there's a romance a-bloomin' between the two.  Through Barry and Robinson, we get the realization of the horror of the situation, but the still very human need for connection in the darkest hour.  A parable for any time, really.

If you've never seen the movie - now is the time!  This restoration is utterly remarkable.  If you have seen it but it's been a while - do it for the same reason and to remind yourself of one of the md-20th Century's finest technical filmic achievements, and to get all the bonus materials from Criterion.

Random Watch: Troop Zero (2019)

Watched:  07/09/2020
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's
Director:  Bertie, Bert

I walked into this with zero expectations, pretty sure it was a Troop Beverly Hills sort of thing, but it's a smart, sweet movie with a sort of indie feel I haven't seen in a movie in a while.  But, in a weird way, for kids with storylines the adults will get even if the kids watching the movie don't quite get what the adults are saying to each other.

It's the rare movie about underdogs that is kinda actually pretty realistic about underdogs, as well as how kids can expect the world to want to keep them that way.  You will likely laugh, you may get a bit weepy. 

Anyway - why isn't Viola Davis on Mt. Rushmore yet?

Kaiju Watch: Son of Godzilla (1967)

Watched:  07/08/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First (all the way through)
Decade:  1960's
Director: Jun Fukuda

Between you, me and the wall, I have been kind of dreading getting to these Godzilla films.  I'm not necessarily a fan of Minilla, but I understand his place.  Some of my first exposure to Godzilla was via the 1970's cartoon series which included "Godzooky", a character intended to appeal to the youths who was a doofus time sink taking away minutes from Godzilla fights.

We're only 13 years away from the amazing work of the original Gojira by this point, but as happens when kids glom onto a character, all the edges were knocked off (see: Mickey Mouse or Batman by 1940).  Godzilla is a big goof who people are afraid like maybe you'd fear a giant cow, and the introduction of "Baby Godzilla" in this context is mostly about giving kids an avatar to project what it'd be like to hang out with Godzilla and learn how to use your own atomic breath. 

I've never really been one for this line of thinking - I never wanted to be Robin if I could be Batman.  I suspect I at least kinda liked Godzooky as a kid.  A funny Godzilla was probably pushing the right buttons for me.  But there is nothing cute or particularly funny about Minilla.  In fact, he's kind of grotesque.

he looks like shirtless, toothless, old, fat man who can't find his slippers

It's just no way to run a monster island. 

Our story is that several scientists have come to a remote, supposedly empty island to work on a weather control experiment that will somehow assist with resolving world hunger.  This island is a popular napping spot for Godzilla.  It also contains mantises the size of a human.  The experiment goes kooky and radiates the island and the mantii grow to Godzilla sizes.  Minilla hatches from an egg and in his original form looks like a tadpole mated with a cow patty.  Its revolting and you kinda root for the mantises to make short work of the abomination. 

But Godzilla shows up and saves him. 

There's also a giant spider on the island (who is a dick).  And a fetching island girl who is the sole survivor of an archaeological expedition that went on way too long. 

This is also one the doofiest designs for Big G.  And I don't even know what they were thinking.

what if an alligator and avocado fell in love?

This movie is pretty clearly more or less aimed at the kiddies, and that's fine.  Jamie tells me it was straight to TV, which is wild.  But it does sort of have that budgetary look.  They forego multiple sets for just building pretty good mantises and a great looking spider muppet.  Why Minilla and Godzilla look like flaming garbage, I do not know.

Anyway - this is the era I've been bracing for as its "Godzilla, Friend to the Children" time, and I soon need to watch stuff like All Monsters Attack, which I have never successfully navigated. 

PODCAST: 110 - "King Kong" 1933, 1976, 2005 & "KIng Kong Lives" (1985) and "Kong: Skull Island" (2017)

King Kong  (1976)
watched:  06/03/2020
Format:  DVD
Viewing: No idea
Director:  John Guillermin

Kong Lives (1985)
watched 06/08/2020
Format:  DVD
Viewing:  third?
Director: John Guillermin

Kong: Skull Island (2017)
watched: 06/12/2020
Format:  DVD
Viewing:  second?
Director:  Jordan Vogt-Roberts

King Kong (2005)
watched:  06/13/2020
Format:  DVD
Viewing:  third
Director:  Peter Jackson

King Kong (1933)
Watched:  06/23/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  no idea
Director:  Merian C. Cooper

For more ways to listen

It's King Kong-a-Palooza as we take on 5 movies about one big monkey. Stuart joins in as we talk about the modern mythology of King Kong, what the story tells us, and what it tells us about ourselves that we retell the story every few decades. We reflect on man, ape, mysterious islands, mystery in general, and fame as we ponder the various takes. Join us as we discuss 1933, 1976, 2005 "King Kong" installments, as well as "King Kong Lives" and the recent entry "Kong: Skull Island".

The Signal Watch PodCast · 110: "King Kong" 1933, 1976, 2005, "King Kong Lives" & "Skull Island" w/ Stuart & Ryan

Music:
King Kong Main Theme (1933) - by Max Steiner
King Kong Opening Theme (1976) - by John Barry

Stop Motion Watch: 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

Watched: 07/07/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  third
Decade:  1950's
Director:  Nathan Juran w/ special fx by Ray Harryhausen

These days The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) is most famous for being part of the line of films with stop motion special FX by Ray Harryhausen, the great miniatures expert who is the direct line between King Kong and everything through Jurassic Park.

I dunno.  It's a lot of fun!  But - you know - in the unlikely event someone shrinks your beloved down to a 4" action figure size, I do not recommending putting her in a tiny box and then shoving it down your pants.  That's just weird, Sinbad.

Ann Miller Watch: On the Town (1949)

Watched:  07/05/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  Unknown
Decade:  1940's
Director(s):  Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly


Look, I'm not *proud* of the whole Ann Miller thing, but there it is.

Screwball Watch: My Man Godfrey (1936)

Watched:  06/28/2020
Format:  TCM on DVR
Viewing:  First
Decade:  1930's
Director:  Gregory La Cava

This movie got a scad of Oscar nominations and was very big upon its release.  It's a comedy about class, wealth, those who have money and those who don't in a contemporary picture released in the thick of the Great Depression.

Kaiju Watch: Godzila and Mothra - The Battle for Earth (1992)

Watched:  07/01/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing:  First (somehow)
Decade:  1990's
Director: Takao Okawara

Do you like pointless Indiana Jones rip-offs?  Confusing plot twists that come out of nowhere?  Psychics?  and our friends, the Twins/ Fairies/ Cosmos?  Sad Japanese people talking about how we're all boned anyway, because we're destroying our own environment?  Disappearing mullets? Plot threads that begin, are very important, and left unresolved?  Most of all - do you like MOTHRA?

Well.

Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992) is here to deliver the goods.

Comedy Watch: Eurovision Song Contest - The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

Watched:  06/27/2020
Format:  Netflix Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade: 2020's
Director: David Dobkin


I am not going to write this up and/ or oversell it.  But it was better than I thought it would be, and I got to see Pierce Brosnan play an Icelandic fisherman.  And now I know who Rachel McAdams is after Jamie explaining to me who she is once a year for twenty tears.

Noir Watch: The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

Watched:  06/29/2020
Format:  Noir Alley on TCM
Viewing:  third
Decade:  1940's
Director:  Orson Welles

The backstory to the making of The Lady From Shanghai (1947) is famous, gossipy Hollywood lore.  Hayworth starred alongside soon-to-be-ex husband and director, Orson Welles, transformed from the red-coiffed icon of Gilda into a platinum blonde and a femme fatale.

A bit like The Big Sleep, a lot of people talk about how this movie is confusing, but I didn't find it particularly so.  While I cop to the fact that The Lady from Shanghai isn't a pat story and that the plot wanders - it all holds together within each character's motivation, and I don't really get the complaints.  From Muller's shownotes, I'll give the credit for cohesive storytelling not to Welles, but to his editor Viola Lawrence, who took Welles' loose footage and worked with him to get it into some sort of story, and got it cut to a standard-length picture when Welles left the movie.

PODCAST: "Jaws" (1978) - Fourth of July Cinema w/ SimonUK, Jamie and Ryan

Watched:  06/24/2020
Format:  BluRay
Viewing: ha!
Decade:  1970's
Director: Steven Spielberg

For more ways to listen - Podcast options


Something's fishy as we discuss one of the first megablockbusters. It's a Signal Watch Summer Spectacular as we discuss a movie with teeth! Bite down on Spielberg's first smash hit, while we chum the waters with more than an hour of chatter that'll have you wishing you brought a bigger podcast player.

The Signal Watch PodCast · 109: "Jaws" (1978) - SimonUK Cinema Series w/ Jamie & Ryan

Music:
Jaws Main Title - John Williams, Jaws OST
Out to Sea - John Williams, Jaws OST


Simon Playlist

The Signal Watch PodCast · SimonUK Cinema Series