Podcast appearances and mentions of Peter Travers

GSD Presents:Balancing Lives and Profits in Cancer Therapy Development with Peter TraversJanuary 31st, Friday#GSDPresents #CancerTherapy #HealthcareEthics #MedicalInnovation #LifeVsProfit #PharmaDebate #Biotech #HealthcareTech #EthicalAI #FutureOfMedicine #CancerResearch #AIinHealthcare #PatientFirst #MedicalBreakthroughs #HealthcareEquity

Comedian/writer/actress Laura Kightlinger (@KingKightlinger) joins Matt, Jesse and Andy to talk about spontaneous human combustion, Bourbon Room comedy shows in Hollywood, the story behind Andy's various bands,  the Uranus story we don't want to cover, how one atom can change a parrot's color, blurb machine Peter Travers, peacock spiders, a blue whale that's been leaking oil for 26 years and a flu strain that we've basically beaten. 

Bruce Willis was at the height of his career in the early ‘90s, with Die Hard and Die Hard 2: Die Harder securing his spot in the action movie pantheon. However, a 1991 release threatened to derail this trajectory. The flop in question concerns a recently-paroled cat burglar who is swept up in an international conspiracy to steal the pieces of a gold-producing alchemy machine invented by Leonardo Da Vinci, a plot involving the mob, the CIA, two psychotic yuppies, and the Vatican! And Willis himself helped come up with the story! The film, chock full of absurdist humor, was marketed as an action flick on Willis's Die Hard reputation, but audiences - and critics - weren't having it. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, “A movie this unspeakably awful can make an audience a little crazy. You want to throw things, yell at the actors, beg them to stop.” Despite earning a Razzie for Worst Film of the Year, the caper has attained something of a cult status based on frequent cable re-airings. Now we're feeling the wind beneath our wings to talk about Hudson Hawk!   For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com   You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPodcast or even better, send us an e-mail: LegendsPodcastS@gmail.com   You can write to Rum Daddy directly: rumdaddylegends@gmail.com You can find all our contact information here on the Network page of GonnaGeek.com Our complete archive is always available at www.legendspodcast.com, www.legendspodcast.libsyn.com

Hello, Hello!   In this episode, Chris and Nick talk with Adam Schartoff, the host of the long-running podcast Film Wax Radio. They discuss Adam's experience maintaining a podcast for over 790 episodes and the challenges of keeping enthusiasm and motivation over many years. They also debate strategies for film festival juries and screeners, the importance of festivals for filmmakers, and whether certain mainstream films deserve criticism.   We also talked about:   - Adam's experience reviewing films for online publications and conducting interviews for the Tribeca Film website - Favorite film critics like Peter Travers and Roger Ebert and their different reviewing styles   - The movie recommendation platform Letterboxd and film review aggregator Metacritic - Netflix's challenges in promoting diverse and award-worthy films to audiences - Films mentioned like Maestro, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Zone of Interest, and American Fiction - Visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp and the impact it left - The controversial Sundance film "Jihad Rehab" - Adam's potential for future film projects drawing from personal experiences   Enjoy!   *How you can continue to enjoy MAKE IT content:*   Subscribe to the MAKE IT YouTube channel. Subscribe to the MAKE IT Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.bonsai.film/subscribe.   The MAKE IT podcast amplifies the voice of the filmmaker by exploring the filmmaking journeys of actors, writers, directors, producers, and a host of other creatives from across the film industry.

We continue our miniseries on the 1980s movies distributed by Miramax Films, with a look at the films released in 1988. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   On this episode, we finally continue with the next part of our look back at the 1980s movies distributed by Miramax Films, specifically looking at 1988.   But before we get there, I must issue another mea culpa. In our episode on the 1987 movies from Miramax, I mentioned that a Kiefer Sutherland movie called Crazy Moon never played in another theatre after its disastrous one week Oscar qualifying run in Los Angeles in December 1987.   I was wrong.   While doing research on this episode, I found one New York City playdate for the film, in early February 1988. It grossed a very dismal $3200 at the 545 seat Festival Theatre during its first weekend, and would be gone after seven days.   Sorry for the misinformation.   1988 would be a watershed year for the company, as one of the movies they acquired for distribution would change the course of documentary filmmaking as we knew it, and another would give a much beloved actor his first Academy Award nomination while giving the company its first Oscar win.   But before we get to those two movies, there's a whole bunch of others to talk about first.   Of the twelve movies Miramax would release in 1988, only four were from America. The rest would be a from a mixture of mostly Anglo-Saxon countries like the UK, Canada, France and Sweden, although there would be one Spanish film in there.   Their first release of the new year, Le Grand Chemin, told the story of a timid nine-year-old boy from Paris who spends one summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother has lodged the boy with her friend and her friend's husband while Mom has another baby. The boy makes friends with a slightly older girl next door, and learns about life from her.   Richard Bohringer, who plays the friend's husband, and Anémone, who plays the pregnant mother, both won Cesars, the French equivalent to the Oscars, in their respective lead categories, and the film would be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of 1987 by the National Board of Review. Miramax, who had picked up the film at Cannes several months earlier, waited until January 22nd, 1988, to release it in America, first at the Paris Theatre in midtown Manhattan, where it would gross a very impressive $41k in its first three days. In its second week, it would drop less than 25% of its opening weekend audience, bringing in another $31k. But shortly after that, the expected Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film did not come, and business on the film slowed to a trickle. But it kept chugging on, and by the time the film finished its run in early June, it had grossed $541k.   A week later, on January 29th, Miramax would open another French film, Light Years. An animated science fiction film written and directed by René Laloux, best known for directing the 1973 animated head trip film Fantastic Planet, Light Years was the story of an evil force from a thousand years in the future who begins to destroy an idyllic paradise where the citizens are in perfect harmony with nature.   In its first three days at two screens in Los Angeles and five screens in the San Francisco Bay Area, Light Years would gross a decent $48,665. Miramax would print a self-congratulating ad in that week's Variety touting the film's success, and thanking Isaac Asimov, who helped to write the English translation, and many of the actors who lent their vocal talents to the new dub, including Glenn Close, Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Grey, Christopher Plummer, and Penn and Teller. Yes, Teller speaks. The ad was a message to both the theatre operators and the major players in the industry. Miramax was here. Get used to it.   But that ad may have been a bit premature.   While the film would do well in major markets during its initial week in theatres, audience interest would drop outside of its opening week in big cities, and be practically non-existent in college towns and other smaller cities. Its final box office total would be just over $370k.   March 18th saw the release of a truly unique film.    Imagine a film directed by Robert Altman and Bruce Beresford and Jean-Luc Godard and Derek Jarman and Franc Roddam and Nicolas Roeg and Ken Russell and Charles Sturridge and Julien Temple. Imagine a film that starred Beverly D'Angelo, Bridget Fonda in her first movie, Julie Hagerty, Buck Henry, Elizabeth Hurley and John Hurt and Theresa Russell and Tilda Swinton. Imagine a film that brought together ten of the most eclectic filmmakers in the world doing four to fourteen minute short films featuring the arias of some of the most famous and beloved operas ever written, often taken out of their original context and placed into strange new places. Like, for example, the aria for Verdi's Rigoletto set at the kitschy Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, where a movie producer is cheating on his wife while she is in a nearby room with a hunky man who is not her husband. Imagine that there's almost no dialogue in the film. Just the arias to set the moments.   That is Aria.   If you are unfamiliar with opera in general, and these arias specifically, that's not a problem. When I saw the film at the Nickelodeon Theatre in Santa Cruz in June 1988, I knew some Wagner, some Puccini, and some Verdi, through other movies that used the music as punctuation for a scene. I think the first time I had heard Nessun Dorma was in The Killing Fields. Vesti La Giubba in The Untouchables. But this would be the first time I would hear these arias as they were meant to be performed, even if they were out of context within their original stories. Certainly, Wagner didn't intend the aria from Tristan und Isolde to be used to highlight a suicide pact between a young couple killing themselves in a Las Vegas hotel bathroom.   Aria definitely split critics when it premiered at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, when it competed for the festival's main prize, the Palme D'Or. Roger Ebert would call it the first MTV opera and felt the filmmakers were poking fun at their own styles, while Leonard Maltin felt most of the endeavor was a waste of time. In the review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin would also make a reference to MTV but not in a positive way, and would note the two best parts of the film were the photo montage that is seen over the end credits, and the clever licensing of Chuck Jones's classic Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Opera, Doc, to play with the film, at least during its New York run. In the Los Angeles Times, the newspaper chose one of its music critics to review the film. They too would compare the film to MTV, but also to Fantasia, neither reference meant to be positive.   It's easy to see what might have attracted Harvey Weinstein to acquire the film.   Nudity.   And lots of it.   Including from a 21 year old Hurley, and a 22 year old Fonda.   Open at the 420 seat Ridgemont Theatre in Seattle on March 18th, 1988, Aria would gross a respectable $10,600. It would be the second highest grossing theatre in the city, only behind The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which grossed $16,600 in its fifth week at the 850 seat Cinerama Theatre, which was and still is the single best theatre in Seattle. It would continue to do well in Seattle, but it would not open until April 15th in Los Angeles and May 20th in New York City.   But despite some decent notices and the presence of some big name directors, Aria would stiff at the box office, grossing just $1.03m after seven months in theatres.   As we discussed on our previous episode, there was a Dennis Hopper movie called Riders on the Storm that supposedly opened in November 1987, but didn't. It did open in theatres in May of 1988, and now we're here to talk about it.   Riders on the Storm would open in eleven theatres in the New York City area on May 7th, including three theatres in Manhattan. Since Miramax did not screen the film for critics before release, never a good sign, the first reviews wouldn't show up until the following day, since the critics would actually have to go see the film with a regular audience. Vincent Canby's review for the New York Times would arrive first, and surprisingly, he didn't completely hate the film. But audiences didn't care. In its first weekend in New York City, Riders on the Storm would gross an anemic $25k. The following Friday, Miramax would open the film at two theatres in Baltimore, four theatres in Fort Worth TX (but surprisingly none in Dallas), one theatre in Los Angeles and one theatre in Springfield OH, while continuing on only one screen in New York. No reported grosses from Fort Worth, LA or Springfield, but the New York theatre reported ticket sales of $3k for the weekend, a 57% drop from its previous week, while the two in Baltimore combined for $5k.   There would be more single playdates for a few months. Tampa the same week as New York. Atlanta, Charlotte, Des Moines and Memphis in late May. Cincinnati in late June. Boston, Calgary, Ottawa and Philadelphia in early July. Greenville SC in late August. Evansville IL, Ithaca NY and San Francisco in early September. Chicago in late September. It just kept popping up in random places for months, always a one week playdate before heading off to the next location. And in all that time, Miramax never reported grosses. What little numbers we do have is from the theatres that Variety was tracking, and those numbers totaled up to less than $30k.   Another mostly lost and forgotten Miramax release from 1988 is Caribe, a Canadian production that shot in Belize about an amateur illegal arms trader to Central American terrorists who must go on the run after a deal goes down bad, because who wants to see a Canadian movie about an amateur illegal arms trader to Canadian terrorists who must go on the run in the Canadian tundra after a deal goes down bad?   Kara Glover would play Helen, the arms dealer, and John Savage as Jeff, a British intelligence agent who helps Helen.   Caribe would first open in Detroit on May 20th, 1988. Can you guess what I'm going to say next?   Yep.   No reported grosses, no theatres playing the film tracked by Variety.   The following week, Caribe opens in the San Francisco Bay Area, at the 300 seat United Artists Theatre in San Francisco, and three theatres in the South Bay. While Miramax once again did not report grosses, the combined gross for the four theatres, according to Variety, was a weak $3,700. Compare that to Aria, which was playing at the Opera Plaza Cinemas in its third week in San Francisco, in an auditorium 40% smaller than the United Artist, grossing $5,300 on its own.   On June 3rd, Caribe would open at the AMC Fountain Square 14 in Nashville. One show only on Friday and Saturday at 11:45pm. Miramax did not report grosses. Probably because people we going to see Willie Tyler and Lester at Zanie's down the street.   And again, it kept cycling around the country, one or two new playdates in each city it played in. Philadelphia in mid-June. Indianapolis in mid-July. Jersey City in late August. Always for one week, grosses never reported.   Miramax's first Swedish release of the year was called Mio, but this was truly an international production. The $4m film was co-produced by Swedish, Norwegian and Russian production companies, directed by a Russian, adapted from a Swedish book by an American screenwriter, scored by one of the members of ABBA, and starring actors from England, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.   Mio tells the story of a boy from Stockholm who travels to an otherworldly fantasy realm and frees the land from an evil knight's oppression. What makes this movie memorable today is that Mio's best friend is played by none other than Christian Bale, in his very first film.   The movie was shot in Moscow, Stockholm, the Crimea, Scotland, and outside Pripyat in the Northern part of what is now Ukraine, between March and July 1986. In fact, the cast and crew were shooting outside Pripyat on April 26th, when they got the call they needed to evacuate the area. It would be hours later when they would discover there had been a reactor core meltdown at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They would have to scramble to shoot in other locations away from Ukraine for a month, and when they were finally allowed to return, the area they were shooting in deemed to have not been adversely affected by the worst nuclear power plant accident in human history,, Geiger counters would be placed all over the sets, and every meal served by craft services would need to be read to make sure it wasn't contaminated.   After premiering at the Moscow Film Festival in July 1987 and the Norwegian Film Festival in August, Mio would open in Sweden on October 16th, 1987. The local critics would tear the film apart. They hated that the filmmakers had Anglicized the movie with British actors like Christopher Lee, Susannah York, Christian Bale and Nicholas Pickard, an eleven year old boy also making his film debut. They also hated how the filmmakers adapted the novel by the legendary Astrid Lindgren, whose Pippi Longstocking novels made her and her works world famous. Overall, they hated pretty much everything about it outside of Christopher Lee's performance and the production's design in the fantasy world.   Miramax most likely picked it up trying to emulate the success of The Neverending Story, which had opened to great success in most of the world in 1984. So it might seem kinda odd that when they would open the now titled The Land of Faraway in theatres, they wouldn't go wide but instead open it on one screen in Atlanta GA on June 10th, 1988. And, once again, Miramax did not report grosses, and Variety did not track Atlanta theatres that week. Two weeks later, they would open the film in Miami. How many theatres? Can't tell you. Miramax did not report grosses, and Variety was not tracking any of the theatres in Miami playing the film. But hey, Bull Durham did pretty good in Miami that week.   The film would next open in theatres in Los Angeles. This time, Miramax bought a quarter page ad in the Los Angeles Times on opening day to let people know the film existed. So we know it was playing on 18 screens that weekend. And, once again, Miramax did not report grosses for the film. But on the two screens it played on that Variety was tracking, the combined gross was just $2,500.   There'd be other playdates. Kansas City and Minneapolis in mid-September. Vancouver, BC in early October. Palm Beach FL in mid October. Calgary AB and Fort Lauderdale in late October. Phoenix in mid November. And never once did Miramax report any grosses for it.   One week after Mio, Miramax would release a comedy called Going Undercover.   Now, if you listened to our March 2021 episode on Some Kind of Wonderful, you may remember be mentioning Lea Thompson taking the role of Amanda Jones in that film, a role she had turned down twice before, the week after Howard the Duck opened, because she was afraid she'd never get cast in a movie again. And while Some Kind of Wonderful wasn't as big a film as you'd expect from a John Hughes production, Thompson did indeed continue to work, and is still working to this day.   So if you were looking at a newspaper ad in several cities in June 1988 and saw her latest movie and wonder why she went back to making weird little movies.   She hadn't.   This was a movie she had made just before Back to the Future, in August and September 1984.   Originally titled Yellow Pages, the film starred film legend Jean Simmons as Maxine, a rich woman who has hired Chris Lemmon's private investigator Henry Brilliant to protect her stepdaughter Marigold during her trip to Copenhagen.   The director, James Clarke, had written the script specifically for Lemmon, tailoring his role to mimic various roles played by his famous father, Jack Lemmon, over the decades, and for Simmons. But Thompson was just one of a number of young actresses they looked at before making their casting choice.   Half of the $6m budget would come from a first-time British film producer, while the other half from a group of Danish investors wanting to lure more Hollywood productions to their area.   The shoot would be plagued by a number of problems. The shoot in Los Angeles coincided with the final days of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which would cut out using some of the best and most regularly used locations in the city, and a long-lasting heat wave that would make outdoor shoots unbearable for cast and crew. When they arrived in Copenhagen at the end of August, Denmark was going through an unusually heavy storm front that hung around for weeks.   Clarke would spend several months editing the film, longer than usual for a smaller production like this, but he in part was waiting to see how Back to the Future would do at the box office. If the film was a hit, and his leading actress was a major part of that, it could make it easier to sell his film to a distributor.   Or that was line of thinking.   Of course, Back to the Future was a hit, and Thompson received much praise for her comedic work on the film.   But that didn't make it any easier to sell his film.   The producer would set the first screenings for the film at the February 1986 American Film Market in Santa Monica, which caters not only to foreign distributors looking to acquire American movies for their markets, but helps independent filmmakers get their movies seen by American distributors.   As these screenings were for buyers by invitation only, there would be no reviews from the screenings, but one could guess that no one would hear about the film again until Miramax bought the American distribution rights to it in March 1988 tells us that maybe those screenings didn't go so well.   The film would get retitled Going Undercover, and would open in single screen playdates in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, St. Louis and Tampa on June 17th. And as I've said too many times already, no reported grosses from Miramax, and only one theatre playing the film was being tracked by Variety, with Going Undercover earning $3,000 during its one week at the Century City 14 in Los Angeles.   In the June 22nd, 1988 issue of Variety, there was an article about Miramax securing a $25m line of credit in order to start producing their own films. Going Undercover is mentioned in the article about being one of Miramax's releases, without noting it had just been released that week or how well it did or did not do.   The Thin Blue Line would be Miramax's first non-music based documentary, and one that would truly change how documentaries were made.   Errol Morris had already made two bizarre but entertaining documentaries in the late 70s and early 80s. Gates of Heaven was shot in 1977, about a man who operated a failing pet cemetery in Northern California's Napa Valley. When Morris told his famous German filmmaking supporter Werner Herzog about the film, Herzog vowed to eat one of the shoes he was wearing that day if Morris could actually complete the film and have it shown in a public theatre. In April 1979, just before the documentary had its world premiere at UC Theatre in Berkeley, where Morris had studied philosophy, Herzog would spend the morning at Chez Pannise, the creators of the California Cuisine cooking style, boiling his shoes for five hours in garlic, herbs and stock. This event itself would be commemorated in a documentary short called, naturally, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, by Les Blank, which is a must watch on its own.   Because of the success of Gates of Heaven, Morris was able to quickly find financing for his next film, Nub City, which was originally supposed to be about the number of Vernon, Florida's citizens who have “accidentally” cut off their limbs, in order to collect the insurance money. But after several of those citizens threatened to kill Morris, and one of them tried to run down his cinematographer with their truck, Morris would rework the documentary, dropping the limb angle, no pun intended, and focus on the numerous eccentric people in the town. It would premiere at the 1981 New York Film Festival, and become a hit, for a documentary, when it was released in theatres in 1982.   But it would take Morris another six years after completing Vernon, Florida, to make another film. Part of it was having trouble lining up full funding to work on his next proposed movie, about James Grigson, a Texas forensic psychiatrist whose was nicknamed Doctor Death for being an expert witness for the prosecution in death penalty cases in Texas. Morris had gotten seed money for the documentary from PBS and the Endowment for Public Arts, but there was little else coming in while he worked on the film. In fact, Morris would get a PI license in New York and work cases for two years, using every penny he earned that wasn't going towards living expenses to keep the film afloat.   One of Morris's major problems for the film was that Grigson would not sit on camera for an interview, but would meet with Morris face to face to talk about the cases. During that meeting, the good doctor suggested to the filmmaker that he should research the killers he helped put away. And during that research, Morris would come across the case of one Randall Dale Adams, who was convicted of killing Dallas police officer Robert Wood in 1976, even though another man, David Harris, was the police's initial suspect. For two years, Morris would fly back and forth between New York City and Texas, talking to and filming interviews with Adams and more than two hundred other people connected to the shooting and the trial. Morris had become convinced Adams was indeed innocent, and dropped the idea about Dr. Grigson to solely focus on the Robert Wood murder.   After showing the producers of PBS's American Playhouse some of the footage he had put together of the new direction of the film, they kicked in more funds so that Morris could shoot some re-enactment sequences outside New York City, as well as commission composer Phillip Glass to create a score for the film once it was completed. Documentaries at that time did not regularly use re-enactments, but Morris felt it was important to show how different personal accounts of the same moment can be misinterpreted or misremembered or outright manipulated to suppress the truth.   After the film completed its post-production in March 1988, The Thin Blue Line would have its world premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival on March 18th, and word quickly spread Morris had something truly unique and special on his hands. The critic for Variety would note in the very first paragraph of his write up that the film employed “strikingly original formal devices to pull together diverse interviews, film clips, photo collages, and” and this is where it broke ground, “recreations of the crime from many points of view.”   Miramax would put together a full court press in order to get the rights to the film, which was announced during the opening days of the 1988 Cannes Film Festival in early May. An early hint on how the company was going to sell the film was by calling it a “non-fiction feature” instead of a documentary.   Miramax would send Morris out on a cross-country press tour in the weeks leading up to the film's August 26th opening date, but Morris, like many documentary filmmakers, was not used to being in the spotlight themselves, and was not as articulate about talking up his movies as the more seasoned directors and actors who've been on the promotion circuit for a while. After one interview, Harvey Weinstein would send Errol Morris a note.   “Heard your NPR interview and you were boring.”   Harvey would offer up several suggestions to help the filmmaker, including hyping the movie up as a real life mystery thriller rather than a documentary, and using shorter and clearer sentences when answering a question.   It was a clear gamble to release The Thin Blue Line in the final week of summer, and the film would need a lot of good will to stand out.   And it would get it.   The New York Times was so enthralled with the film, it would not only run a review from Janet Maslin, who would heap great praise on the film, but would also run a lengthy interview with Errol Morris right next to the review. The quarter page ad in the New York Times, several pages back, would tout positive quotes from Roger Ebert, J. Hoberman, who had left The Village Voice for the then-new Premiere Magazine, Peter Travers, writing for People Magazine instead of Rolling Stone, and critics from the San Francisco Chronicle and, interestingly enough, the Dallas Morning News. The top of the ad was tagged with an intriguing tease: solving this mystery is going to be murder, with a second tag line underneath the key art and title, which called the film “a new kind of movie mystery.” Of the 15 New York area-based film critics for local newspapers, television and national magazines, 14 of them gave favorable reviews, while 1, Stephen Schiff of Vanity Fair, was ambivalent about it. Not one critic gave it a bad review.   New York audiences were hooked.   Opening in the 240 seat main house at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, the movie grossed $30,945 its first three days. In its second weekend, the gross at the Lincoln Plaza would jump to $31k, and adding another $27,500 from its two theatre opening in Los Angeles and $15,800 from a single DC theatre that week. Third week in New York was a still good $21k, but the second week in Los Angeles fell to $10,500 and DC to $10k. And that's how it rolled out for several months, mostly single screen bookings in major cities not called Los Angeles or New York City, racking up some of the best reviews Miramax would receive to date, but never breaking out much outside the major cities. When it looked like Santa Cruz wasn't going to play the film, I drove to San Francisco to see it, just as my friends and I had for the opening day of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ in mid-August. That's 75 miles each way, plus parking in San Francisco, just to see a movie. That's when you know you no longer just like movies but have developed a serious case of cinephilea. So when The Nickelodeon did open the film in late November, I did something I had never done with any documentary before.   I went and saw it again.   Second time around, I was still pissed off at the outrageous injustice heaped upon Randall Dale Adams for nothing more than being with and trusting the wrong person at the wrong time. But, thankfully, things would turn around for Adams in the coming weeks. On December 1st, it was reported that David Harris had recanted his testimony at Adams' trial, admitting he was alone when Officer Wood stopped his car. And on March 1st, 1989, after more than 15,000 people had signed the film's petition to revisit the decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Adams's conviction “based largely” on facts presented in the film.   The film would also find itself in several more controversies.   Despite being named The Best Documentary of the Year by a number of critics groups, the Documentary Branch of the  Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would not nominate the film, due in large part to the numerous reenactments presented throughout the film. Filmmaker Michael Apted, a member of the Directors Branch of the Academy, noted that the failure to acknowledge The Thin Blue Line was “one of the most outrageous things in the modern history of the Academy,” while Roger Ebert added the slight was “the worst non-nomination of the year.” Despite the lack of a nomination, Errol Morris would attend the Oscars ceremony in March 1989, as a protest for his film being snubbed.   Morris would also, several months after Adams' release, find himself being sued by Adams, but not because of how he was portrayed in the film. During the making of the film, Morris had Adams sign a contract giving Morris the exclusive right to tell Adams's story, and Adams wanted, essentially, the right to tell his own story now that he was a free man. Morris and Adams would settle out of court, and Adams would regain his life rights.   Once the movie was played out in theatres, it had grossed $1.2m, which on the surface sounds like not a whole lot of money. Adjusted for inflation, that would only be $3.08m. But even unadjusted for inflation, it's still one of the 100 highest grossing documentaries of the past forty years. And it is one of just a handful of documentaries to become a part of the National Film Registry, for being a culturally, historically or aesthetically significant film.”   Adams would live a quiet life after his release, working as an anti-death penalty advocate and marrying the sister of one of the death row inmates he was helping to exonerate. He would pass away from a brain tumor in October 2010 at a courthouse in Ohio not half an hour from where he was born and still lived, but he would so disappear from the spotlight after the movie was released that his passing wasn't even reported until June 2011.   Errol Morris would become one of the most celebrated documentarians of his generation, finally getting nominated for, and winning, an Oscar in 2003, for The Fog of War, about the life and times of Robert McNamara, Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War era. The Fog of War would also be added to the National Film Registry in 2019. Morris would become only the third documentarian, after D.A. Pennebaker and Les Blank, to have two films on the Registry.   In 1973, the senseless killings of five members of the Alday family in Donalsonville GA made international headlines. Four years later, Canadian documentarian Tex Fuller made an award-winning documentary about the case, called Murder One. For years, Fuller shopped around a screenplay telling the same story, but it would take nearly a decade for it to finally be sold, in part because Fuller was insistent that he also be the director. A small Canadian production company would fund the $1m CAD production, which would star Henry Thomas of E.T. fame as the fifteen year old narrator of the story, Billy Isaacs.   The shoot began in early October 1987 outside Toronto, but after a week of shooting, Fuller was fired, and was replaced by Graeme Campbell, a young and energetic filmmaker for whom Murder One would be his fourth movie directing gig of the year. Details are sketchy as to why Fuller was fired, but Thomas and his mother Carolyn would voice concerns with the producers about the new direction the film was taking under its new director.   The film would premiere in Canada in May 1988. When the film did well up North, Miramax took notice and purchased the American distribution rights.   Murder One would first open in America on two screens in Los Angeles on September 9th, 1988. Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times noted that while the film itself wasn't very good, that it still sprung from the disturbing insight about the crazy reasons people cross of what should be impassable moral lines.   “No movie studio could have invented it!,” screamed the tagline on the poster and newspaper key art. “No writer could have imagined it! Because what happened that night became the most controversial in American history.”   That would draw limited interest from filmgoers in Tinseltown. The two theatres would gross a combined $7k in its first three days. Not great but far better than several other recent Miramax releases in the area.   Two weeks later, on September 23rd, Miramax would book Murder One into 20 theatres in the New York City metro region, as well as in Akron, Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianpolis, Nashville, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. In New York, the film would actually get some good reviews from the Times and the Post as well as Peter Travers of People Magazine, but once again, Miramax would not report grosses for the film. Variety would note the combined gross for the film in New York City was only $25k.   In early October, the film would fall out of Variety's internal list of the 50 Top Grossing Films within the twenty markets they regularly tracked, with a final gross of just $87k. One market that Miramax deliberately did not book the film was anywhere near southwest Georgia, where the murders took place. The closest theatre that did play the film was more than 200 miles away.   Miramax would finish 1988 with two releases.   The first was Dakota, which would mark star Lou Diamond Phillips first time as a producer. He would star as a troubled teenager who takes a job on a Texas horse ranch to help pay of his debts, who becomes a sorta big brother to the ranch owner's young son, who has recently lost a leg to cancer, as he also falls for the rancher's daughter.   When the $1.1m budgeted film began production in Texas in June 1987, Phillips had already made La Bamba and Stand and Deliver, but neither had yet to be released into theatres. By the time filming ended five weeks later, La Bamba had just opened, and Phillips was on his way to becoming a star.   The main producers wanted director Fred Holmes to get the film through post-production as quickly as possible, to get it into theatres in the early part of 1988 to capitalize on the newfound success of their young star.    But that wouldn't happen.   Holmes wouldn't have the film ready until the end of February 1988, which was deemed acceptable because of the impending release of Stand and Deliver. In fact, the producers would schedule their first distributor screening of the film on March 14th, the Monday after Stand and Delivered opened, in the hopes that good box office for the film and good notices for Phillips would translate to higher distributor interest in their film, which sorta worked. None of the major studios would show for the screening, but a number of Indies would, including Miramax. Phillips would not attend the screening, as he was on location in New Mexico shooting Young Guns.   I can't find any reason why Miramax waited nearly nine months after they acquired Dakota to get it into theatres. It certainly wasn't Oscar bait, and screen availability would be scarce during the busy holiday movie season, which would see a number of popular, high profile releases like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Ernest Saves Christmas, The Naked Gun, Rain Man, Scrooged, Tequila Sunrise, Twins and Working Girl. Which might explain why, when Miramax released the film into 18 theatres in the New York City area on December 2nd, they could only get three screens in all of Manhattan, the best being the nice but hardly first-rate Embassy 4 at Broadway and 47th. Or of the 22 screens in Los Angeles opening the film the same day, the best would be the tiny Westwood 4 next to UCLA or the Paramount in Hollywood, whose best days were back in the Eisenhower administration.   And, yet again, Miramax did not report grosses, and none of the theatres playing the film was tracked by Variety that week. The film would be gone after just one week. The Paramount, which would open Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on the 14th, opted to instead play a double feature of Clara's Heart, with Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Patrick Harris, and the River Phoenix drama Running on Empty, even though neither film had been much of a hit.   Miramax's last film of the year would be the one that changed everything for them.   Pelle the Conquerer.   Adapted from a 1910 Danish book and directed by Billie August, whose previous film Twist and Shout had been released by Miramax in 1986, Pelle the Conquerer would be the first Danish or Swedish movie to star Max von Sydow in almost 15 years, having spent most of the 70s and 80s in Hollywood and London starring in a number of major movies including The Exorcist, Three Days of the Condor, Flash Gordon,Conan the Barbarian, Never Say Never Again, and David Lynch's Dune. But because von Sydow would be making his return to his native cinema, August was able to secure $4.5m to make the film, one of the highest budgeted Scandinavian films to be made to date.   In the late 1850s, an elderly emigrant Lasse and his son Pelle leave their home in Sweden after the death of the boy's mother, wanting to build a new life on the Danish island of Bornholm. Lasse finds it difficult to find work, given his age and his son's youth. The pair are forced to work at a large farm, where they are generally mistreated by the managers for being foreigners. The father falls into depression and alcoholism, the young boy befriends one of the bastard children of the farm owner as well as another Swedish farm worker, who dreams of conquering the world.   For the title character of Pelle, Billie August saw more than 3,000 Swedish boys before deciding to cast 11 year old Pelle Hvenegaard, who, like many boys in Sweden, had been named for the character he was now going to play on screen.   After six months of filming in the summer and fall of 1986, Billie August would finish editing Pelle the Conquerer in time for it to make its intended Christmas Day 1987 release date in Denmark and Sweden, where the film would be one of the biggest releases in either country for the entire decade. It would make its debut outside Scandinavia at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1988, where it had been invited to compete for the Palme D'Or. It would compete against a number of talented filmmakers who had come with some of the best films they would ever make, including Clint Eastwood with Bird, Claire Denis' Chocolat, István Szabó's Hanussen, Vincent Ward's The Navigator, and A Short Film About Killing, an expanded movie version of the fifth episode in Krzysztof Kieślowski's masterful miniseries Dekalog. Pelle would conquer them all, taking home the top prize from one of cinema's most revered film festivals.   Reviews for the film out of Cannes were almost universally excellent. Vincent Canby, the lead film critic for the New York Times for nearly twenty years by this point, wouldn't file his review until the end of the festival, in which he pointed out that a number of people at the festival were scandalized von Sydow had not also won the award for Best Actor.   Having previously worked with the company on his previous film's American release, August felt that Miramax would have what it took to make the film a success in the States.   Their first moves would be to schedule the film for a late December release, while securing a slot at that September's New York Film Festival. And once again, the critical consensus was highly positive, with only a small sampling of distractors.   The film would open first on two screens at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, December 21st, following by exclusive engagements in nine other cities including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC, on the 23rd. But the opening week numbers weren't very good, just $46k from ten screens. And you can't really blame the film's two hour and forty-five minute running time. Little Dorrit, the two-part, four hour adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, had been out nine weeks at this point and was still making nearly 50% more per screen.   But after the new year, when more and more awards were hurled the film's way, including the National Board of Review naming it one of the best foreign films of the year and the Golden Globes awarding it their Best Foreign Language trophy, ticket sales would pick up.   Well, for a foreign film.   The week after the Motion Picture Academy awarded Pelle their award for Best Foreign Language Film, business for the film would pick up 35%, and a third of its $2m American gross would come after that win.   One of the things that surprised me while doing the research for this episode was learning that Max von Sydow had never been nominated for an Oscar until he was nominated for Best Actor for Pelle the Conquerer. You look at his credits over the years, and it's just mind blowing. The Seventh Seal. Wild Strawberries. The Virgin Spring. The Greatest Story Ever Told. The Emigrants. The Exorcist. The Three Days of the Condor. Surely there was one performance amongst those that deserved recognition.   I hate to keep going back to A24, but there's something about a company's first Oscar win that sends that company into the next level. A24 didn't really become A24 until 2016, when three of their movies won Oscars, including Brie Larson for Best Actress in Room. And Miramax didn't really become the Miramax we knew and once loved until its win for Pelle.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 117, the fifth and final part of our miniseries on Miramax Films, is released.     Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

We continue our miniseries on the 1980s movies distributed by Miramax Films, with a look at the films released in 1988. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT   From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   On this episode, we finally continue with the next part of our look back at the 1980s movies distributed by Miramax Films, specifically looking at 1988.   But before we get there, I must issue another mea culpa. In our episode on the 1987 movies from Miramax, I mentioned that a Kiefer Sutherland movie called Crazy Moon never played in another theatre after its disastrous one week Oscar qualifying run in Los Angeles in December 1987.   I was wrong.   While doing research on this episode, I found one New York City playdate for the film, in early February 1988. It grossed a very dismal $3200 at the 545 seat Festival Theatre during its first weekend, and would be gone after seven days.   Sorry for the misinformation.   1988 would be a watershed year for the company, as one of the movies they acquired for distribution would change the course of documentary filmmaking as we knew it, and another would give a much beloved actor his first Academy Award nomination while giving the company its first Oscar win.   But before we get to those two movies, there's a whole bunch of others to talk about first.   Of the twelve movies Miramax would release in 1988, only four were from America. The rest would be a from a mixture of mostly Anglo-Saxon countries like the UK, Canada, France and Sweden, although there would be one Spanish film in there.   Their first release of the new year, Le Grand Chemin, told the story of a timid nine-year-old boy from Paris who spends one summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother has lodged the boy with her friend and her friend's husband while Mom has another baby. The boy makes friends with a slightly older girl next door, and learns about life from her.   Richard Bohringer, who plays the friend's husband, and Anémone, who plays the pregnant mother, both won Cesars, the French equivalent to the Oscars, in their respective lead categories, and the film would be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of 1987 by the National Board of Review. Miramax, who had picked up the film at Cannes several months earlier, waited until January 22nd, 1988, to release it in America, first at the Paris Theatre in midtown Manhattan, where it would gross a very impressive $41k in its first three days. In its second week, it would drop less than 25% of its opening weekend audience, bringing in another $31k. But shortly after that, the expected Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film did not come, and business on the film slowed to a trickle. But it kept chugging on, and by the time the film finished its run in early June, it had grossed $541k.   A week later, on January 29th, Miramax would open another French film, Light Years. An animated science fiction film written and directed by René Laloux, best known for directing the 1973 animated head trip film Fantastic Planet, Light Years was the story of an evil force from a thousand years in the future who begins to destroy an idyllic paradise where the citizens are in perfect harmony with nature.   In its first three days at two screens in Los Angeles and five screens in the San Francisco Bay Area, Light Years would gross a decent $48,665. Miramax would print a self-congratulating ad in that week's Variety touting the film's success, and thanking Isaac Asimov, who helped to write the English translation, and many of the actors who lent their vocal talents to the new dub, including Glenn Close, Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Grey, Christopher Plummer, and Penn and Teller. Yes, Teller speaks. The ad was a message to both the theatre operators and the major players in the industry. Miramax was here. Get used to it.   But that ad may have been a bit premature.   While the film would do well in major markets during its initial week in theatres, audience interest would drop outside of its opening week in big cities, and be practically non-existent in college towns and other smaller cities. Its final box office total would be just over $370k.   March 18th saw the release of a truly unique film.    Imagine a film directed by Robert Altman and Bruce Beresford and Jean-Luc Godard and Derek Jarman and Franc Roddam and Nicolas Roeg and Ken Russell and Charles Sturridge and Julien Temple. Imagine a film that starred Beverly D'Angelo, Bridget Fonda in her first movie, Julie Hagerty, Buck Henry, Elizabeth Hurley and John Hurt and Theresa Russell and Tilda Swinton. Imagine a film that brought together ten of the most eclectic filmmakers in the world doing four to fourteen minute short films featuring the arias of some of the most famous and beloved operas ever written, often taken out of their original context and placed into strange new places. Like, for example, the aria for Verdi's Rigoletto set at the kitschy Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, where a movie producer is cheating on his wife while she is in a nearby room with a hunky man who is not her husband. Imagine that there's almost no dialogue in the film. Just the arias to set the moments.   That is Aria.   If you are unfamiliar with opera in general, and these arias specifically, that's not a problem. When I saw the film at the Nickelodeon Theatre in Santa Cruz in June 1988, I knew some Wagner, some Puccini, and some Verdi, through other movies that used the music as punctuation for a scene. I think the first time I had heard Nessun Dorma was in The Killing Fields. Vesti La Giubba in The Untouchables. But this would be the first time I would hear these arias as they were meant to be performed, even if they were out of context within their original stories. Certainly, Wagner didn't intend the aria from Tristan und Isolde to be used to highlight a suicide pact between a young couple killing themselves in a Las Vegas hotel bathroom.   Aria definitely split critics when it premiered at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, when it competed for the festival's main prize, the Palme D'Or. Roger Ebert would call it the first MTV opera and felt the filmmakers were poking fun at their own styles, while Leonard Maltin felt most of the endeavor was a waste of time. In the review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin would also make a reference to MTV but not in a positive way, and would note the two best parts of the film were the photo montage that is seen over the end credits, and the clever licensing of Chuck Jones's classic Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Opera, Doc, to play with the film, at least during its New York run. In the Los Angeles Times, the newspaper chose one of its music critics to review the film. They too would compare the film to MTV, but also to Fantasia, neither reference meant to be positive.   It's easy to see what might have attracted Harvey Weinstein to acquire the film.   Nudity.   And lots of it.   Including from a 21 year old Hurley, and a 22 year old Fonda.   Open at the 420 seat Ridgemont Theatre in Seattle on March 18th, 1988, Aria would gross a respectable $10,600. It would be the second highest grossing theatre in the city, only behind The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which grossed $16,600 in its fifth week at the 850 seat Cinerama Theatre, which was and still is the single best theatre in Seattle. It would continue to do well in Seattle, but it would not open until April 15th in Los Angeles and May 20th in New York City.   But despite some decent notices and the presence of some big name directors, Aria would stiff at the box office, grossing just $1.03m after seven months in theatres.   As we discussed on our previous episode, there was a Dennis Hopper movie called Riders on the Storm that supposedly opened in November 1987, but didn't. It did open in theatres in May of 1988, and now we're here to talk about it.   Riders on the Storm would open in eleven theatres in the New York City area on May 7th, including three theatres in Manhattan. Since Miramax did not screen the film for critics before release, never a good sign, the first reviews wouldn't show up until the following day, since the critics would actually have to go see the film with a regular audience. Vincent Canby's review for the New York Times would arrive first, and surprisingly, he didn't completely hate the film. But audiences didn't care. In its first weekend in New York City, Riders on the Storm would gross an anemic $25k. The following Friday, Miramax would open the film at two theatres in Baltimore, four theatres in Fort Worth TX (but surprisingly none in Dallas), one theatre in Los Angeles and one theatre in Springfield OH, while continuing on only one screen in New York. No reported grosses from Fort Worth, LA or Springfield, but the New York theatre reported ticket sales of $3k for the weekend, a 57% drop from its previous week, while the two in Baltimore combined for $5k.   There would be more single playdates for a few months. Tampa the same week as New York. Atlanta, Charlotte, Des Moines and Memphis in late May. Cincinnati in late June. Boston, Calgary, Ottawa and Philadelphia in early July. Greenville SC in late August. Evansville IL, Ithaca NY and San Francisco in early September. Chicago in late September. It just kept popping up in random places for months, always a one week playdate before heading off to the next location. And in all that time, Miramax never reported grosses. What little numbers we do have is from the theatres that Variety was tracking, and those numbers totaled up to less than $30k.   Another mostly lost and forgotten Miramax release from 1988 is Caribe, a Canadian production that shot in Belize about an amateur illegal arms trader to Central American terrorists who must go on the run after a deal goes down bad, because who wants to see a Canadian movie about an amateur illegal arms trader to Canadian terrorists who must go on the run in the Canadian tundra after a deal goes down bad?   Kara Glover would play Helen, the arms dealer, and John Savage as Jeff, a British intelligence agent who helps Helen.   Caribe would first open in Detroit on May 20th, 1988. Can you guess what I'm going to say next?   Yep.   No reported grosses, no theatres playing the film tracked by Variety.   The following week, Caribe opens in the San Francisco Bay Area, at the 300 seat United Artists Theatre in San Francisco, and three theatres in the South Bay. While Miramax once again did not report grosses, the combined gross for the four theatres, according to Variety, was a weak $3,700. Compare that to Aria, which was playing at the Opera Plaza Cinemas in its third week in San Francisco, in an auditorium 40% smaller than the United Artist, grossing $5,300 on its own.   On June 3rd, Caribe would open at the AMC Fountain Square 14 in Nashville. One show only on Friday and Saturday at 11:45pm. Miramax did not report grosses. Probably because people we going to see Willie Tyler and Lester at Zanie's down the street.   And again, it kept cycling around the country, one or two new playdates in each city it played in. Philadelphia in mid-June. Indianapolis in mid-July. Jersey City in late August. Always for one week, grosses never reported.   Miramax's first Swedish release of the year was called Mio, but this was truly an international production. The $4m film was co-produced by Swedish, Norwegian and Russian production companies, directed by a Russian, adapted from a Swedish book by an American screenwriter, scored by one of the members of ABBA, and starring actors from England, Finland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.   Mio tells the story of a boy from Stockholm who travels to an otherworldly fantasy realm and frees the land from an evil knight's oppression. What makes this movie memorable today is that Mio's best friend is played by none other than Christian Bale, in his very first film.   The movie was shot in Moscow, Stockholm, the Crimea, Scotland, and outside Pripyat in the Northern part of what is now Ukraine, between March and July 1986. In fact, the cast and crew were shooting outside Pripyat on April 26th, when they got the call they needed to evacuate the area. It would be hours later when they would discover there had been a reactor core meltdown at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They would have to scramble to shoot in other locations away from Ukraine for a month, and when they were finally allowed to return, the area they were shooting in deemed to have not been adversely affected by the worst nuclear power plant accident in human history,, Geiger counters would be placed all over the sets, and every meal served by craft services would need to be read to make sure it wasn't contaminated.   After premiering at the Moscow Film Festival in July 1987 and the Norwegian Film Festival in August, Mio would open in Sweden on October 16th, 1987. The local critics would tear the film apart. They hated that the filmmakers had Anglicized the movie with British actors like Christopher Lee, Susannah York, Christian Bale and Nicholas Pickard, an eleven year old boy also making his film debut. They also hated how the filmmakers adapted the novel by the legendary Astrid Lindgren, whose Pippi Longstocking novels made her and her works world famous. Overall, they hated pretty much everything about it outside of Christopher Lee's performance and the production's design in the fantasy world.   Miramax most likely picked it up trying to emulate the success of The Neverending Story, which had opened to great success in most of the world in 1984. So it might seem kinda odd that when they would open the now titled The Land of Faraway in theatres, they wouldn't go wide but instead open it on one screen in Atlanta GA on June 10th, 1988. And, once again, Miramax did not report grosses, and Variety did not track Atlanta theatres that week. Two weeks later, they would open the film in Miami. How many theatres? Can't tell you. Miramax did not report grosses, and Variety was not tracking any of the theatres in Miami playing the film. But hey, Bull Durham did pretty good in Miami that week.   The film would next open in theatres in Los Angeles. This time, Miramax bought a quarter page ad in the Los Angeles Times on opening day to let people know the film existed. So we know it was playing on 18 screens that weekend. And, once again, Miramax did not report grosses for the film. But on the two screens it played on that Variety was tracking, the combined gross was just $2,500.   There'd be other playdates. Kansas City and Minneapolis in mid-September. Vancouver, BC in early October. Palm Beach FL in mid October. Calgary AB and Fort Lauderdale in late October. Phoenix in mid November. And never once did Miramax report any grosses for it.   One week after Mio, Miramax would release a comedy called Going Undercover.   Now, if you listened to our March 2021 episode on Some Kind of Wonderful, you may remember be mentioning Lea Thompson taking the role of Amanda Jones in that film, a role she had turned down twice before, the week after Howard the Duck opened, because she was afraid she'd never get cast in a movie again. And while Some Kind of Wonderful wasn't as big a film as you'd expect from a John Hughes production, Thompson did indeed continue to work, and is still working to this day.   So if you were looking at a newspaper ad in several cities in June 1988 and saw her latest movie and wonder why she went back to making weird little movies.   She hadn't.   This was a movie she had made just before Back to the Future, in August and September 1984.   Originally titled Yellow Pages, the film starred film legend Jean Simmons as Maxine, a rich woman who has hired Chris Lemmon's private investigator Henry Brilliant to protect her stepdaughter Marigold during her trip to Copenhagen.   The director, James Clarke, had written the script specifically for Lemmon, tailoring his role to mimic various roles played by his famous father, Jack Lemmon, over the decades, and for Simmons. But Thompson was just one of a number of young actresses they looked at before making their casting choice.   Half of the $6m budget would come from a first-time British film producer, while the other half from a group of Danish investors wanting to lure more Hollywood productions to their area.   The shoot would be plagued by a number of problems. The shoot in Los Angeles coincided with the final days of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which would cut out using some of the best and most regularly used locations in the city, and a long-lasting heat wave that would make outdoor shoots unbearable for cast and crew. When they arrived in Copenhagen at the end of August, Denmark was going through an unusually heavy storm front that hung around for weeks.   Clarke would spend several months editing the film, longer than usual for a smaller production like this, but he in part was waiting to see how Back to the Future would do at the box office. If the film was a hit, and his leading actress was a major part of that, it could make it easier to sell his film to a distributor.   Or that was line of thinking.   Of course, Back to the Future was a hit, and Thompson received much praise for her comedic work on the film.   But that didn't make it any easier to sell his film.   The producer would set the first screenings for the film at the February 1986 American Film Market in Santa Monica, which caters not only to foreign distributors looking to acquire American movies for their markets, but helps independent filmmakers get their movies seen by American distributors.   As these screenings were for buyers by invitation only, there would be no reviews from the screenings, but one could guess that no one would hear about the film again until Miramax bought the American distribution rights to it in March 1988 tells us that maybe those screenings didn't go so well.   The film would get retitled Going Undercover, and would open in single screen playdates in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, St. Louis and Tampa on June 17th. And as I've said too many times already, no reported grosses from Miramax, and only one theatre playing the film was being tracked by Variety, with Going Undercover earning $3,000 during its one week at the Century City 14 in Los Angeles.   In the June 22nd, 1988 issue of Variety, there was an article about Miramax securing a $25m line of credit in order to start producing their own films. Going Undercover is mentioned in the article about being one of Miramax's releases, without noting it had just been released that week or how well it did or did not do.   The Thin Blue Line would be Miramax's first non-music based documentary, and one that would truly change how documentaries were made.   Errol Morris had already made two bizarre but entertaining documentaries in the late 70s and early 80s. Gates of Heaven was shot in 1977, about a man who operated a failing pet cemetery in Northern California's Napa Valley. When Morris told his famous German filmmaking supporter Werner Herzog about the film, Herzog vowed to eat one of the shoes he was wearing that day if Morris could actually complete the film and have it shown in a public theatre. In April 1979, just before the documentary had its world premiere at UC Theatre in Berkeley, where Morris had studied philosophy, Herzog would spend the morning at Chez Pannise, the creators of the California Cuisine cooking style, boiling his shoes for five hours in garlic, herbs and stock. This event itself would be commemorated in a documentary short called, naturally, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, by Les Blank, which is a must watch on its own.   Because of the success of Gates of Heaven, Morris was able to quickly find financing for his next film, Nub City, which was originally supposed to be about the number of Vernon, Florida's citizens who have “accidentally” cut off their limbs, in order to collect the insurance money. But after several of those citizens threatened to kill Morris, and one of them tried to run down his cinematographer with their truck, Morris would rework the documentary, dropping the limb angle, no pun intended, and focus on the numerous eccentric people in the town. It would premiere at the 1981 New York Film Festival, and become a hit, for a documentary, when it was released in theatres in 1982.   But it would take Morris another six years after completing Vernon, Florida, to make another film. Part of it was having trouble lining up full funding to work on his next proposed movie, about James Grigson, a Texas forensic psychiatrist whose was nicknamed Doctor Death for being an expert witness for the prosecution in death penalty cases in Texas. Morris had gotten seed money for the documentary from PBS and the Endowment for Public Arts, but there was little else coming in while he worked on the film. In fact, Morris would get a PI license in New York and work cases for two years, using every penny he earned that wasn't going towards living expenses to keep the film afloat.   One of Morris's major problems for the film was that Grigson would not sit on camera for an interview, but would meet with Morris face to face to talk about the cases. During that meeting, the good doctor suggested to the filmmaker that he should research the killers he helped put away. And during that research, Morris would come across the case of one Randall Dale Adams, who was convicted of killing Dallas police officer Robert Wood in 1976, even though another man, David Harris, was the police's initial suspect. For two years, Morris would fly back and forth between New York City and Texas, talking to and filming interviews with Adams and more than two hundred other people connected to the shooting and the trial. Morris had become convinced Adams was indeed innocent, and dropped the idea about Dr. Grigson to solely focus on the Robert Wood murder.   After showing the producers of PBS's American Playhouse some of the footage he had put together of the new direction of the film, they kicked in more funds so that Morris could shoot some re-enactment sequences outside New York City, as well as commission composer Phillip Glass to create a score for the film once it was completed. Documentaries at that time did not regularly use re-enactments, but Morris felt it was important to show how different personal accounts of the same moment can be misinterpreted or misremembered or outright manipulated to suppress the truth.   After the film completed its post-production in March 1988, The Thin Blue Line would have its world premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival on March 18th, and word quickly spread Morris had something truly unique and special on his hands. The critic for Variety would note in the very first paragraph of his write up that the film employed “strikingly original formal devices to pull together diverse interviews, film clips, photo collages, and” and this is where it broke ground, “recreations of the crime from many points of view.”   Miramax would put together a full court press in order to get the rights to the film, which was announced during the opening days of the 1988 Cannes Film Festival in early May. An early hint on how the company was going to sell the film was by calling it a “non-fiction feature” instead of a documentary.   Miramax would send Morris out on a cross-country press tour in the weeks leading up to the film's August 26th opening date, but Morris, like many documentary filmmakers, was not used to being in the spotlight themselves, and was not as articulate about talking up his movies as the more seasoned directors and actors who've been on the promotion circuit for a while. After one interview, Harvey Weinstein would send Errol Morris a note.   “Heard your NPR interview and you were boring.”   Harvey would offer up several suggestions to help the filmmaker, including hyping the movie up as a real life mystery thriller rather than a documentary, and using shorter and clearer sentences when answering a question.   It was a clear gamble to release The Thin Blue Line in the final week of summer, and the film would need a lot of good will to stand out.   And it would get it.   The New York Times was so enthralled with the film, it would not only run a review from Janet Maslin, who would heap great praise on the film, but would also run a lengthy interview with Errol Morris right next to the review. The quarter page ad in the New York Times, several pages back, would tout positive quotes from Roger Ebert, J. Hoberman, who had left The Village Voice for the then-new Premiere Magazine, Peter Travers, writing for People Magazine instead of Rolling Stone, and critics from the San Francisco Chronicle and, interestingly enough, the Dallas Morning News. The top of the ad was tagged with an intriguing tease: solving this mystery is going to be murder, with a second tag line underneath the key art and title, which called the film “a new kind of movie mystery.” Of the 15 New York area-based film critics for local newspapers, television and national magazines, 14 of them gave favorable reviews, while 1, Stephen Schiff of Vanity Fair, was ambivalent about it. Not one critic gave it a bad review.   New York audiences were hooked.   Opening in the 240 seat main house at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, the movie grossed $30,945 its first three days. In its second weekend, the gross at the Lincoln Plaza would jump to $31k, and adding another $27,500 from its two theatre opening in Los Angeles and $15,800 from a single DC theatre that week. Third week in New York was a still good $21k, but the second week in Los Angeles fell to $10,500 and DC to $10k. And that's how it rolled out for several months, mostly single screen bookings in major cities not called Los Angeles or New York City, racking up some of the best reviews Miramax would receive to date, but never breaking out much outside the major cities. When it looked like Santa Cruz wasn't going to play the film, I drove to San Francisco to see it, just as my friends and I had for the opening day of Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ in mid-August. That's 75 miles each way, plus parking in San Francisco, just to see a movie. That's when you know you no longer just like movies but have developed a serious case of cinephilea. So when The Nickelodeon did open the film in late November, I did something I had never done with any documentary before.   I went and saw it again.   Second time around, I was still pissed off at the outrageous injustice heaped upon Randall Dale Adams for nothing more than being with and trusting the wrong person at the wrong time. But, thankfully, things would turn around for Adams in the coming weeks. On December 1st, it was reported that David Harris had recanted his testimony at Adams' trial, admitting he was alone when Officer Wood stopped his car. And on March 1st, 1989, after more than 15,000 people had signed the film's petition to revisit the decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Adams's conviction “based largely” on facts presented in the film.   The film would also find itself in several more controversies.   Despite being named The Best Documentary of the Year by a number of critics groups, the Documentary Branch of the  Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would not nominate the film, due in large part to the numerous reenactments presented throughout the film. Filmmaker Michael Apted, a member of the Directors Branch of the Academy, noted that the failure to acknowledge The Thin Blue Line was “one of the most outrageous things in the modern history of the Academy,” while Roger Ebert added the slight was “the worst non-nomination of the year.” Despite the lack of a nomination, Errol Morris would attend the Oscars ceremony in March 1989, as a protest for his film being snubbed.   Morris would also, several months after Adams' release, find himself being sued by Adams, but not because of how he was portrayed in the film. During the making of the film, Morris had Adams sign a contract giving Morris the exclusive right to tell Adams's story, and Adams wanted, essentially, the right to tell his own story now that he was a free man. Morris and Adams would settle out of court, and Adams would regain his life rights.   Once the movie was played out in theatres, it had grossed $1.2m, which on the surface sounds like not a whole lot of money. Adjusted for inflation, that would only be $3.08m. But even unadjusted for inflation, it's still one of the 100 highest grossing documentaries of the past forty years. And it is one of just a handful of documentaries to become a part of the National Film Registry, for being a culturally, historically or aesthetically significant film.”   Adams would live a quiet life after his release, working as an anti-death penalty advocate and marrying the sister of one of the death row inmates he was helping to exonerate. He would pass away from a brain tumor in October 2010 at a courthouse in Ohio not half an hour from where he was born and still lived, but he would so disappear from the spotlight after the movie was released that his passing wasn't even reported until June 2011.   Errol Morris would become one of the most celebrated documentarians of his generation, finally getting nominated for, and winning, an Oscar in 2003, for The Fog of War, about the life and times of Robert McNamara, Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War era. The Fog of War would also be added to the National Film Registry in 2019. Morris would become only the third documentarian, after D.A. Pennebaker and Les Blank, to have two films on the Registry.   In 1973, the senseless killings of five members of the Alday family in Donalsonville GA made international headlines. Four years later, Canadian documentarian Tex Fuller made an award-winning documentary about the case, called Murder One. For years, Fuller shopped around a screenplay telling the same story, but it would take nearly a decade for it to finally be sold, in part because Fuller was insistent that he also be the director. A small Canadian production company would fund the $1m CAD production, which would star Henry Thomas of E.T. fame as the fifteen year old narrator of the story, Billy Isaacs.   The shoot began in early October 1987 outside Toronto, but after a week of shooting, Fuller was fired, and was replaced by Graeme Campbell, a young and energetic filmmaker for whom Murder One would be his fourth movie directing gig of the year. Details are sketchy as to why Fuller was fired, but Thomas and his mother Carolyn would voice concerns with the producers about the new direction the film was taking under its new director.   The film would premiere in Canada in May 1988. When the film did well up North, Miramax took notice and purchased the American distribution rights.   Murder One would first open in America on two screens in Los Angeles on September 9th, 1988. Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times noted that while the film itself wasn't very good, that it still sprung from the disturbing insight about the crazy reasons people cross of what should be impassable moral lines.   “No movie studio could have invented it!,” screamed the tagline on the poster and newspaper key art. “No writer could have imagined it! Because what happened that night became the most controversial in American history.”   That would draw limited interest from filmgoers in Tinseltown. The two theatres would gross a combined $7k in its first three days. Not great but far better than several other recent Miramax releases in the area.   Two weeks later, on September 23rd, Miramax would book Murder One into 20 theatres in the New York City metro region, as well as in Akron, Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianpolis, Nashville, and Tampa-St. Petersburg. In New York, the film would actually get some good reviews from the Times and the Post as well as Peter Travers of People Magazine, but once again, Miramax would not report grosses for the film. Variety would note the combined gross for the film in New York City was only $25k.   In early October, the film would fall out of Variety's internal list of the 50 Top Grossing Films within the twenty markets they regularly tracked, with a final gross of just $87k. One market that Miramax deliberately did not book the film was anywhere near southwest Georgia, where the murders took place. The closest theatre that did play the film was more than 200 miles away.   Miramax would finish 1988 with two releases.   The first was Dakota, which would mark star Lou Diamond Phillips first time as a producer. He would star as a troubled teenager who takes a job on a Texas horse ranch to help pay of his debts, who becomes a sorta big brother to the ranch owner's young son, who has recently lost a leg to cancer, as he also falls for the rancher's daughter.   When the $1.1m budgeted film began production in Texas in June 1987, Phillips had already made La Bamba and Stand and Deliver, but neither had yet to be released into theatres. By the time filming ended five weeks later, La Bamba had just opened, and Phillips was on his way to becoming a star.   The main producers wanted director Fred Holmes to get the film through post-production as quickly as possible, to get it into theatres in the early part of 1988 to capitalize on the newfound success of their young star.    But that wouldn't happen.   Holmes wouldn't have the film ready until the end of February 1988, which was deemed acceptable because of the impending release of Stand and Deliver. In fact, the producers would schedule their first distributor screening of the film on March 14th, the Monday after Stand and Delivered opened, in the hopes that good box office for the film and good notices for Phillips would translate to higher distributor interest in their film, which sorta worked. None of the major studios would show for the screening, but a number of Indies would, including Miramax. Phillips would not attend the screening, as he was on location in New Mexico shooting Young Guns.   I can't find any reason why Miramax waited nearly nine months after they acquired Dakota to get it into theatres. It certainly wasn't Oscar bait, and screen availability would be scarce during the busy holiday movie season, which would see a number of popular, high profile releases like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Ernest Saves Christmas, The Naked Gun, Rain Man, Scrooged, Tequila Sunrise, Twins and Working Girl. Which might explain why, when Miramax released the film into 18 theatres in the New York City area on December 2nd, they could only get three screens in all of Manhattan, the best being the nice but hardly first-rate Embassy 4 at Broadway and 47th. Or of the 22 screens in Los Angeles opening the film the same day, the best would be the tiny Westwood 4 next to UCLA or the Paramount in Hollywood, whose best days were back in the Eisenhower administration.   And, yet again, Miramax did not report grosses, and none of the theatres playing the film was tracked by Variety that week. The film would be gone after just one week. The Paramount, which would open Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on the 14th, opted to instead play a double feature of Clara's Heart, with Whoopi Goldberg and Neil Patrick Harris, and the River Phoenix drama Running on Empty, even though neither film had been much of a hit.   Miramax's last film of the year would be the one that changed everything for them.   Pelle the Conquerer.   Adapted from a 1910 Danish book and directed by Billie August, whose previous film Twist and Shout had been released by Miramax in 1986, Pelle the Conquerer would be the first Danish or Swedish movie to star Max von Sydow in almost 15 years, having spent most of the 70s and 80s in Hollywood and London starring in a number of major movies including The Exorcist, Three Days of the Condor, Flash Gordon,Conan the Barbarian, Never Say Never Again, and David Lynch's Dune. But because von Sydow would be making his return to his native cinema, August was able to secure $4.5m to make the film, one of the highest budgeted Scandinavian films to be made to date.   In the late 1850s, an elderly emigrant Lasse and his son Pelle leave their home in Sweden after the death of the boy's mother, wanting to build a new life on the Danish island of Bornholm. Lasse finds it difficult to find work, given his age and his son's youth. The pair are forced to work at a large farm, where they are generally mistreated by the managers for being foreigners. The father falls into depression and alcoholism, the young boy befriends one of the bastard children of the farm owner as well as another Swedish farm worker, who dreams of conquering the world.   For the title character of Pelle, Billie August saw more than 3,000 Swedish boys before deciding to cast 11 year old Pelle Hvenegaard, who, like many boys in Sweden, had been named for the character he was now going to play on screen.   After six months of filming in the summer and fall of 1986, Billie August would finish editing Pelle the Conquerer in time for it to make its intended Christmas Day 1987 release date in Denmark and Sweden, where the film would be one of the biggest releases in either country for the entire decade. It would make its debut outside Scandinavia at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1988, where it had been invited to compete for the Palme D'Or. It would compete against a number of talented filmmakers who had come with some of the best films they would ever make, including Clint Eastwood with Bird, Claire Denis' Chocolat, István Szabó's Hanussen, Vincent Ward's The Navigator, and A Short Film About Killing, an expanded movie version of the fifth episode in Krzysztof Kieślowski's masterful miniseries Dekalog. Pelle would conquer them all, taking home the top prize from one of cinema's most revered film festivals.   Reviews for the film out of Cannes were almost universally excellent. Vincent Canby, the lead film critic for the New York Times for nearly twenty years by this point, wouldn't file his review until the end of the festival, in which he pointed out that a number of people at the festival were scandalized von Sydow had not also won the award for Best Actor.   Having previously worked with the company on his previous film's American release, August felt that Miramax would have what it took to make the film a success in the States.   Their first moves would be to schedule the film for a late December release, while securing a slot at that September's New York Film Festival. And once again, the critical consensus was highly positive, with only a small sampling of distractors.   The film would open first on two screens at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, December 21st, following by exclusive engagements in nine other cities including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC, on the 23rd. But the opening week numbers weren't very good, just $46k from ten screens. And you can't really blame the film's two hour and forty-five minute running time. Little Dorrit, the two-part, four hour adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, had been out nine weeks at this point and was still making nearly 50% more per screen.   But after the new year, when more and more awards were hurled the film's way, including the National Board of Review naming it one of the best foreign films of the year and the Golden Globes awarding it their Best Foreign Language trophy, ticket sales would pick up.   Well, for a foreign film.   The week after the Motion Picture Academy awarded Pelle their award for Best Foreign Language Film, business for the film would pick up 35%, and a third of its $2m American gross would come after that win.   One of the things that surprised me while doing the research for this episode was learning that Max von Sydow had never been nominated for an Oscar until he was nominated for Best Actor for Pelle the Conquerer. You look at his credits over the years, and it's just mind blowing. The Seventh Seal. Wild Strawberries. The Virgin Spring. The Greatest Story Ever Told. The Emigrants. The Exorcist. The Three Days of the Condor. Surely there was one performance amongst those that deserved recognition.   I hate to keep going back to A24, but there's something about a company's first Oscar win that sends that company into the next level. A24 didn't really become A24 until 2016, when three of their movies won Oscars, including Brie Larson for Best Actress in Room. And Miramax didn't really become the Miramax we knew and once loved until its win for Pelle.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 117, the fifth and final part of our miniseries on Miramax Films, is released.     Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about the movies we covered this episode.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

Our hosting switcheroo continues as Joe helms a full analysis and fix of 2016's Assassin's Creed, Justin Kurzel and Michael Fassbender's attempt to adapt the hit video game franchise to the silver screen. It didn't win any Razzies, but Jack got to do Caligula. In this 1st part, we breakdown what did and didn't work about the film, explore the connections between the film and games and briefly look into the series' history, and look into what some critics had to say. Jack laments his lack of virtual parkour skills, Joe gives a scattered overview of the games, and take a moment to laugh about cringeworthy presidential announcements. Join us as we explore what could have been a hit film series, where nothing is real and everything is permitted (as long as its PG-13, I guess). CW: Brief mention of the alleged sexual misconduct and misogynist culture within Ubisoft, violence, Christopher Columbus, a reminder that the Uwe Boll adaptation of Bloodrayne exists. Podcast Plugged In This Episode: Doom Generation (@DoomGenPod on Twitter) Stuff Mentioned In This Episode: Lovecraft, Marion Cotillard, Michael K. Williams, Ariane Labed, Jeremy Irons, Patsy Cline, BioShock, Mass Effect, Portal, The Witcher, Rock Band, Clive Barker's Jericho, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Michael Madsen, Henry Kissinger, Tomas de Torquemada, Javier Gutierrez, Brendan Gleeson, Spanish Inquisition, Prince of Persia, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, Quidditch, Shroud of Turin, Macbeth, WIlliam Shakespeare, Robert DeNiro, Dirty Grandpa, Order of Assassins, Hashishin, History Hit, vikings, Crusades, Leonardo da Vinci, Marvel Comics, SHIELD, Benjamin Franklin, Arno Dorian, John L. Beiswenger, Link, John Wilkes Booth, The Lion King, Inception, Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer, Barbie, Sony Pictures, DMC Films, genetic memory, Ambush Bug, IDW Comics, Desmond Miles, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, X-Men, Oscar Isaac, The Matrix, Popcorn with Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, Snowtown, the Cold War, Michael Lesslie, Scott Frank, Minority Report, Logan, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, New York Minute, Accepted, The Transporter Refueled, Allegiant, Ely Catherdral, Damien Walters, Batman Begins, Sing, Passengers, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Gareth Edwards, WGA Strike, color theory, Alien Resurrection, Sigourney Weaver, Ron Perlman, Sin City, Umbrella Corp, Jackie Chan, American Horror Story, Casino Royale, Daniel Craig --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/derazzled/support

It's the second half of Mermay and we're back with a different spin on the human and fish as lovers trope with The Shape of Water (2017) directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. In this episode, we discuss del Toro's love of Universal Monsters and his religious inspiration, and finding love and community as outsider. Our recommendation: Amélie (2001), Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) Watch del Toro's interview on Popcorn with Peter Travers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otts5vS_f8o Support your girls with a ko-fi! ko-fi.com/blackgirlfilmclub Check out the rest of our socials at linktr.ee/blackgirlfilmclub

On this episode, we do our first deep dive into the John Landis filmography, to talk about one of his lesser celebrated film, the 1985 Jeff Goldblum/Michelle Pfeiffer morbid comedy Into the Night. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   Long time listeners to this show know that I am not the biggest fan of John Landis, the person. I've spoken about Landis, and especially about his irresponsibility and seeming callousness when it comes to the helicopter accident on the set of his segment for the 1983 film The Twilight Zone which took the lives of actors Vic Morrow, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, enough where I don't wish to rehash it once again.   But when one does a podcast that celebrates the movies of the 1980s, every once in a while, one is going to have to talk about John Landis and his movies. He did direct eight movies, one documentary and a segment in an anthology film during the decade, and several of them, both before and after the 1982 helicopter accident, are actually pretty good films.   For this episode, we're going to talk about one of his lesser known and celebrated films from the decade, despite its stacked cast.   We're talking about 1985's Into the Night.   But, as always, before we get to Into the Night, some backstory.   John David Landis was born in Chicago in 1950, but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was four months old. While he grew up in the City of Angels, he still considers himself a Chicagoan, which is an important factoid to point out a little later in his life.   After graduating from high school in 1968, Landis got his first job in the film industry the way many a young man and woman did in those days: through the mail room at a major studio, his being Twentieth Century-Fox. He wasn't all that fond of the mail room. Even since he had seen The  7th Voyage of Sinbad at the age of eight, he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker, and you're not going to become a filmmaker in the mail room. By chance, he would get a job as a production assistant on the Clint Eastwood/Telly Savalas World War II comedy/drama Kelly's Heroes, despite the fact that the film would be shooting in Yugoslavia. During the shoot, he would become friendly with the film's co-stars Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland. When the assistant director on the film got sick and had to go back to the United States, Landis positioned himself to be the logical, and readily available, replacement. Once Kelly's Heroes finished shooting, Landis would spend his time working on other films that were shooting in Italy and the United Kingdom. It is said he was a stuntman on Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but I'm going to call shenanigans on that one, as the film was made in 1966, when Landis was only sixteen years old and not yet working in the film industry. I'm also going to call shenanigans on his working as a stunt performer on Leone's 1968 film Once Upon a Time in the West, and Tony Richardson's 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade, and Peter Collinson's 1969 film The Italian Job, which also were all filmed and released into theatres before Landis made his way to Europe the first time around.   In 1971, Landis would write and direct his first film, a low-budget horror comedy called Schlock, which would star Landis as the title character, in an ape suit designed by master makeup creator Rick Baker. The $60k film was Landis's homage to the monster movies he grew up watching, and his crew would spend 12 days in production, stealing shots wherever they could  because they could not afford filming permits. For more than a year, Landis would show the completed film to any distributor that would give him the time of day, but no one was interested in a very quirky comedy featuring a guy in a gorilla suit playing it very very straight.   Somehow, Johnny Carson was able to screen a print of the film sometime in the fall of 1972, and the powerful talk show host loved it. On November 2nd, 1972, Carson would have Landis on The Tonight Show to talk about his movie. Landis was only 22 at the time, and the exposure on Carson would drive great interest in the film from a number of smaller independent distributors would wouldn't take his calls even a week earlier. Jack H. Harris Enterprises would be the victor, and they would first release Schlock on twenty screens in Los Angeles on December 12th, 1973, the top of a double bill alongside the truly schlocky Son of The Blob. The film would get a very good reception from the local press, including positive reviews from the notoriously prickly Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas, and an unnamed critic in the pages of the industry trade publication Daily Variety. The film would move from market to market every few weeks, and the film would make a tidy little profit for everyone involved. But it would be four more years until Landis would make his follow-up film.   The Kentucky Fried Movie originated not with Landis but with three guys from Madison, Wisconsin who started their own theatre troop while attending the University of Wisconsin before moving it to West Los Angeles in 1971. Those guys, brothers David and Jerry Zucker, and their high school friend Jim Abrahams, had written a number of sketches for their stage shows over a four year period, and felt a number of them could translate well to film, as long as they could come up with a way to link them all together. Although they would be aware of Ken Shapiro's 1974 comedy anthology movie The Groove Tube, a series of sketches shot on videotape shown in movie theatres on the East Coast at midnight on Saturday nights, it would finally hit them in 1976, when Neal Israel's anthology sketch comedy movie TunnelVision became a small hit in theatres. That movie featured Chevy Chase and Laraine Newman, two of the stars of NBC's hit show Saturday Night Live, which was the real reason the film was a hit, but that didn't matter to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.   The Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team decided they needed to not just tell potential backers about the film but show them what they would be getting. They would raise $35,000 to film a ten minute segment, but none of them had ever directed anything for film before, so they would start looking for an experienced director who would be willing to work on a movie like theirs for little to no money.   Through mutual friend Bob Weiss, the trio would meet and get to know John Landis, who would come aboard to direct the presentation reel, if not the entire film should it get funded. That segment, if you've seen Kentucky Fried Movie, included the fake trailer for Cleopatra Schwartz, a parody of blaxploitation movies. The guys would screen the presentation reel first to Kim Jorgensen, the owner of the famed arthouse theatre the Nuart here in Los Angeles, and Jorgensen loved it. He would put up part of the $650k budget himself, and he would show the reel to his friends who also ran theatres, not just in Los Angeles, whenever they were in town, and it would be through a consortium of independent movie theatre owners that Kentucky Fried Movie would get financed.   The movie would be released on August 10th, 1977, ironically the same day as another independent sketch comedy movie, Can I Do It Till I Need Glasses?, was released. But Kentucky Fried Movie would have the powerful United Artists Theatres behind them, as they would make the movie the very first release through their own distribution company, United Film Distribution. I did a three part series on UFDC back in 2021, if you'd like to learn more about them. Featuring such name actors as Bill Bixby, Henry Gibson, George Lazenby and Donald Sutherland, Kentucky Fried Movie would earn more than $7m in theatres, and would not only give John Landis the hit he needed to move up the ranks, but it would give Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker the opportunity to make their own movie. But we'll talk about Airplane! sometime in the future.   Shortly after the release of Kentuck Fried Movie, Landis would get hired to direct Animal House, which would become the surprise success of 1978 and lead Landis into directing The Blues Brothers, which is probably the most John Landis movie that will ever be made. Big, loud, schizophrenic, a little too long for its own good, and filled with a load of in-jokes and cameos that are built only for film fanatics and/or John Landis fanatics. The success of The Blues Brothers would give Landis the chance to make his dream project, a horror comedy he had written more than a decade before.   An American Werewolf in London was the right mix of comedy and horror, in-jokes and great needle drops, with some of the best practical makeup effects ever created for a movie. Makeup effects so good that, in fact, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would make the occasionally given Best Makeup Effects Oscar a permanent category, and Werewolf would win that category's first competitive Oscar.   In 1982, Landis would direct Coming Soon, one of the first direct-to-home video movies ever released. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, Coming Soon was, essentially, edited clips from 34 old horror and thriller trailers for movies owned by Universal, from Frankenstein and Dracula to Psycho and The Birds. It's only 55 minutes long, but the video did help younger burgeoning cineasts learn more about the history of Universal's monster movies.   And then, as previously mentioned, there was the accident during the filming of The Twilight Zone.   Landis was able to recover enough emotionally from the tragedy to direct Trading Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in the winter of 1982/83, another hit that maybe showed Hollywood the public wasn't as concerned about the Twilight Zone accident as they worried it would. The Twilight Zone movie would be released three weeks after Trading Places, and while it was not that big a hit, it wasn't quite the bomb it was expected to be because of the accident.   Which brings us to Into the Night.   While Landis was working on the final edit of Trading Places, the President of Universal Pictures, Sean Daniels, contacted Landis about what his next project might be. Universal was where Landis had made Animal House, The Blues Brothers and American Werewolf, so it would not be unusual for a studio head to check up on a filmmaker who had made three recent successful films for them. Specifically, Daniels wanted to pitch Landis on a screenplay the studio had in development called Into the Night. Ron Koslow, the writer of the 1976 Sam Elliott drama Lifeguard, had written the script on spec which the studio had picked up, about an average, ordinary guy who, upon discovering his wife is having an affair, who finds himself in the middle of an international incident involving jewel smuggling out of Iran. Maybe this might be something he would be interested in working on, as it would be both right up his alley, a comedy, and something he'd never done before, a romantic action thriller.   Landis would agree to make the film, if he were allowed some leeway in casting.   For the role of Ed Okin, an aerospace engineer whose insomnia leads him to the Los Angeles International Airport in search of some rest, Landis wanted Jeff Goldblum, who had made more than 15 films over the past decade, including Annie Hall, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Big Chill and The Right Stuff, but had never been the lead in a movie to this point. For Diana, the jewel smuggler who enlists the unwitting Ed into her strange world, Landis wanted Michelle Pfeiffer, the gorgeous star of Grease 2 and Scarface. But mostly, Landis wanted to fill as many of supporting roles with either actors he had worked with before, like Dan Aykroyd and Bruce McGill, or filmmakers who were either contemporaries of Landis and/or were filmmakers he had admired. Amongst those he would get would be Jack Arnold, Paul Bartel, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Demme, Richard Franklin, Amy Heckerling, Colin Higgins, Jim Henson, Lawrence Kasdan, Jonathan Lynn, Paul Mazursky, Don Siegel, and Roger Vadim, as well as Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, Midnight Cowboy writer Waldo Salt, personal trainer to the stars Jake Steinfeld, music legends David Bowie and Carl Perkins, and several recent Playboy Playmates. Landis himself would be featured as one of the four Iranian agents chasing Pfeiffer's character.   While neither Perkins nor Bowie would appear on the soundtrack to the film, Landis was able to get blues legend B.B. King to perform three songs, two brand new songs as well as a cover of the Wilson Pickett classic In the Midnight Hour.   Originally scheduled to be produced by Joel Douglas, brother of Michael and son of Kirk, Into the Night would go into production on April 2nd, 1984, under the leadership of first-time producer Ron Koslow and Landis's producing partner George Folsey, Jr.   The movie would make great use of dozens of iconic Los Angeles locations, including the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the Shubert Theatre in Century City, the Ships Coffee Shot on La Cienega, the flagship Tiffanys and Company in Beverly Hills, Randy's Donuts, and the aforementioned airport. But on Monday, April 23rd, the start of the fourth week of shooting, the director was ordered to stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter due to the accident on the Twilight Zone set. But the trial would not start until months after Into the Night was scheduled to complete its shoot. In an article about the indictment printed in the Los Angeles Times two days later, Universal Studios head Sean Daniels was insistent the studio had made no special plans in the event of Landis' possible conviction. Had he been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, Landis was looking at up to six years in prison.   The film would wrap production in early June, and Landis would spend the rest of the year in an editing bay on the Universal lot with his editor, Malcolm Campbell, who had also cut An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, the Michael Jackson Thriller short film, and Landis's segment and the Landis-shot prologue to The Twilight Zone.   During this time, Universal would set a February 22nd, 1985 release date for the film, an unusual move, as every movie Landis had made since Kentucky Fried Movie had been released during the summer movie season, and there was nothing about Into the Night that screamed late Winter.   I've long been a proponent of certain movies having a right time to be released, and late February never felt like the right time to release a morbid comedy, especially one that takes place in sunny Los Angeles. When Into the Night opened in New York City, at the Loews New York Twin at Second Avenue and 66th Street, the high in the city was 43 degrees, after an overnight low of 25 degrees. What New Yorker wants to freeze his or her butt off to see Jeff Goldblum run around Los Angeles with Michelle Pfeiffer in a light red leather jacket and a thin white t-shirt, if she's wearing anything at all? Well, actually, that last part wasn't so bad. But still, a $40,000 opening weekend gross at the 525 seat New York Twin would be one of the better grosses for all of the city. In Los Angeles, where the weather was in the 60s all weekend, the film would gross $65,500 between the 424 seat Avco Cinema 2 in Westwood and the 915 seat Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.   The reviews, like with many of Landis's films, were mixed.   Richard Corliss of Time Magazine would find the film irresistible and a sparkling thriller, calling Goldblum and Pfeiffer two of the most engaging young actors working. Peter Travers, writing for People Magazine at the time, would anoint the film with a rarely used noun in film criticism, calling it a “pip.” Travers would also call Pfeiffer a knockout of the first order, with a newly uncovered flair for comedy. Guess he hadn't seen her in the 1979 ABC spin-off of Animal House, called Delta House, in which she played The Bombshell, or in Floyd Mutrix's 1980 comedy The Hollywood Knights.    But the majority of critics would find plenty to fault with the film. The general critical feeling for the film was that it was too inside baseball for most people, as typified by Vincent Canby in his review for the New York Times. Canby would dismiss the film as having an insidey, which is not a word, manner of a movie made not for the rest of us but for the moviemakers on the Bel Air circuit who watch each other's films in their own screening room.   After two weeks of exclusive engagements in New York and Los Angeles, Universal would expand the film to 1096 screens on March 8th, where the film would gross $2.57m, putting it in fifth place for the weekend, nearly a million dollars less than fellow Universal Pictures film The Breakfast Club, which was in its fourth week of release and in ninety fewer theatres. After a fourth weekend of release, where the film would come in fifth place again with $1.95m, now nearly a million and a half behind The Breakfast Club, Universal would start to migrate the film out of first run theatres and into dollar houses, in order to make room for another film of theirs, Peter Bogdanovich's comeback film Mask, which would be itself expanding from limited release to wide release on March 22nd. Into the Night would continue to play at the second-run theatres for months, but its final gross of $7.56m wouldn't even cover the film's $8m production budget.   Despite the fact that it has both Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer as its leads, Into the Night would not become a cult film on home video the way that many films neglected by audiences in theatres would find a second life.   I thought the film was good when I saw it opening night at the Aptos Twin. I enjoyed the obvious chemistry between the two leads, and I enjoyed the insidey manner in which there were so many famous filmmakers doing cameos in the film. I remember wishing there was more of David Bowie, since there were very few people, actors or musicians, who would fill the screen with so much charm and charisma, even when playing a bad guy. And I enjoyed listening to B.B. King on the soundtrack, as I had just started to get into the blues during my senior year of high school.   I revisited the film, which you can rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon and several other major streaming services, for the podcast, and although I didn't enjoy the film as much as I remember doing so in 1985, it was clear that these two actors were going to become big stars somewhere down the road. Goldblum, of course, would become a star the following year, thanks to his incredible work in David Cronenberg's The Fly. Incidentally, Goldblum and Cronenberg would meet for the first time on the set of Into the Night. And, of course, Michelle Pfeiffer would explode in 1987, thanks to her work with Susan Sarandon, Cher and Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick, which she would follow up with not one, not two but three powerhouse performances of completely different natures in 1988, in Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob, Robert Towne's Tequila Sunrise, and her Oscar-nominated work in Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons. Incidentally, Pfeiffer and Jonathan Demme would also meet for the first time on the set of Into the Night, so maybe it was kismet that all these things happened in part because of the unusual casting desires of John Landis.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 108, on Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl, is released.     Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Into the Night.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

On this episode, we do our first deep dive into the John Landis filmography, to talk about one of his lesser celebrated film, the 1985 Jeff Goldblum/Michelle Pfeiffer morbid comedy Into the Night. ----more---- TRANSCRIPT From Los Angeles, California, the Entertainment Capital of the World, it's The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today.   Long time listeners to this show know that I am not the biggest fan of John Landis, the person. I've spoken about Landis, and especially about his irresponsibility and seeming callousness when it comes to the helicopter accident on the set of his segment for the 1983 film The Twilight Zone which took the lives of actors Vic Morrow, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, enough where I don't wish to rehash it once again.   But when one does a podcast that celebrates the movies of the 1980s, every once in a while, one is going to have to talk about John Landis and his movies. He did direct eight movies, one documentary and a segment in an anthology film during the decade, and several of them, both before and after the 1982 helicopter accident, are actually pretty good films.   For this episode, we're going to talk about one of his lesser known and celebrated films from the decade, despite its stacked cast.   We're talking about 1985's Into the Night.   But, as always, before we get to Into the Night, some backstory.   John David Landis was born in Chicago in 1950, but his family moved to Los Angeles when he was four months old. While he grew up in the City of Angels, he still considers himself a Chicagoan, which is an important factoid to point out a little later in his life.   After graduating from high school in 1968, Landis got his first job in the film industry the way many a young man and woman did in those days: through the mail room at a major studio, his being Twentieth Century-Fox. He wasn't all that fond of the mail room. Even since he had seen The  7th Voyage of Sinbad at the age of eight, he knew he wanted to be a filmmaker, and you're not going to become a filmmaker in the mail room. By chance, he would get a job as a production assistant on the Clint Eastwood/Telly Savalas World War II comedy/drama Kelly's Heroes, despite the fact that the film would be shooting in Yugoslavia. During the shoot, he would become friendly with the film's co-stars Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland. When the assistant director on the film got sick and had to go back to the United States, Landis positioned himself to be the logical, and readily available, replacement. Once Kelly's Heroes finished shooting, Landis would spend his time working on other films that were shooting in Italy and the United Kingdom. It is said he was a stuntman on Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but I'm going to call shenanigans on that one, as the film was made in 1966, when Landis was only sixteen years old and not yet working in the film industry. I'm also going to call shenanigans on his working as a stunt performer on Leone's 1968 film Once Upon a Time in the West, and Tony Richardson's 1968 film The Charge of the Light Brigade, and Peter Collinson's 1969 film The Italian Job, which also were all filmed and released into theatres before Landis made his way to Europe the first time around.   In 1971, Landis would write and direct his first film, a low-budget horror comedy called Schlock, which would star Landis as the title character, in an ape suit designed by master makeup creator Rick Baker. The $60k film was Landis's homage to the monster movies he grew up watching, and his crew would spend 12 days in production, stealing shots wherever they could  because they could not afford filming permits. For more than a year, Landis would show the completed film to any distributor that would give him the time of day, but no one was interested in a very quirky comedy featuring a guy in a gorilla suit playing it very very straight.   Somehow, Johnny Carson was able to screen a print of the film sometime in the fall of 1972, and the powerful talk show host loved it. On November 2nd, 1972, Carson would have Landis on The Tonight Show to talk about his movie. Landis was only 22 at the time, and the exposure on Carson would drive great interest in the film from a number of smaller independent distributors would wouldn't take his calls even a week earlier. Jack H. Harris Enterprises would be the victor, and they would first release Schlock on twenty screens in Los Angeles on December 12th, 1973, the top of a double bill alongside the truly schlocky Son of The Blob. The film would get a very good reception from the local press, including positive reviews from the notoriously prickly Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas, and an unnamed critic in the pages of the industry trade publication Daily Variety. The film would move from market to market every few weeks, and the film would make a tidy little profit for everyone involved. But it would be four more years until Landis would make his follow-up film.   The Kentucky Fried Movie originated not with Landis but with three guys from Madison, Wisconsin who started their own theatre troop while attending the University of Wisconsin before moving it to West Los Angeles in 1971. Those guys, brothers David and Jerry Zucker, and their high school friend Jim Abrahams, had written a number of sketches for their stage shows over a four year period, and felt a number of them could translate well to film, as long as they could come up with a way to link them all together. Although they would be aware of Ken Shapiro's 1974 comedy anthology movie The Groove Tube, a series of sketches shot on videotape shown in movie theatres on the East Coast at midnight on Saturday nights, it would finally hit them in 1976, when Neal Israel's anthology sketch comedy movie TunnelVision became a small hit in theatres. That movie featured Chevy Chase and Laraine Newman, two of the stars of NBC's hit show Saturday Night Live, which was the real reason the film was a hit, but that didn't matter to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker.   The Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team decided they needed to not just tell potential backers about the film but show them what they would be getting. They would raise $35,000 to film a ten minute segment, but none of them had ever directed anything for film before, so they would start looking for an experienced director who would be willing to work on a movie like theirs for little to no money.   Through mutual friend Bob Weiss, the trio would meet and get to know John Landis, who would come aboard to direct the presentation reel, if not the entire film should it get funded. That segment, if you've seen Kentucky Fried Movie, included the fake trailer for Cleopatra Schwartz, a parody of blaxploitation movies. The guys would screen the presentation reel first to Kim Jorgensen, the owner of the famed arthouse theatre the Nuart here in Los Angeles, and Jorgensen loved it. He would put up part of the $650k budget himself, and he would show the reel to his friends who also ran theatres, not just in Los Angeles, whenever they were in town, and it would be through a consortium of independent movie theatre owners that Kentucky Fried Movie would get financed.   The movie would be released on August 10th, 1977, ironically the same day as another independent sketch comedy movie, Can I Do It Till I Need Glasses?, was released. But Kentucky Fried Movie would have the powerful United Artists Theatres behind them, as they would make the movie the very first release through their own distribution company, United Film Distribution. I did a three part series on UFDC back in 2021, if you'd like to learn more about them. Featuring such name actors as Bill Bixby, Henry Gibson, George Lazenby and Donald Sutherland, Kentucky Fried Movie would earn more than $7m in theatres, and would not only give John Landis the hit he needed to move up the ranks, but it would give Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker the opportunity to make their own movie. But we'll talk about Airplane! sometime in the future.   Shortly after the release of Kentuck Fried Movie, Landis would get hired to direct Animal House, which would become the surprise success of 1978 and lead Landis into directing The Blues Brothers, which is probably the most John Landis movie that will ever be made. Big, loud, schizophrenic, a little too long for its own good, and filled with a load of in-jokes and cameos that are built only for film fanatics and/or John Landis fanatics. The success of The Blues Brothers would give Landis the chance to make his dream project, a horror comedy he had written more than a decade before.   An American Werewolf in London was the right mix of comedy and horror, in-jokes and great needle drops, with some of the best practical makeup effects ever created for a movie. Makeup effects so good that, in fact, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences would make the occasionally given Best Makeup Effects Oscar a permanent category, and Werewolf would win that category's first competitive Oscar.   In 1982, Landis would direct Coming Soon, one of the first direct-to-home video movies ever released. Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, Coming Soon was, essentially, edited clips from 34 old horror and thriller trailers for movies owned by Universal, from Frankenstein and Dracula to Psycho and The Birds. It's only 55 minutes long, but the video did help younger burgeoning cineasts learn more about the history of Universal's monster movies.   And then, as previously mentioned, there was the accident during the filming of The Twilight Zone.   Landis was able to recover enough emotionally from the tragedy to direct Trading Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in the winter of 1982/83, another hit that maybe showed Hollywood the public wasn't as concerned about the Twilight Zone accident as they worried it would. The Twilight Zone movie would be released three weeks after Trading Places, and while it was not that big a hit, it wasn't quite the bomb it was expected to be because of the accident.   Which brings us to Into the Night.   While Landis was working on the final edit of Trading Places, the President of Universal Pictures, Sean Daniels, contacted Landis about what his next project might be. Universal was where Landis had made Animal House, The Blues Brothers and American Werewolf, so it would not be unusual for a studio head to check up on a filmmaker who had made three recent successful films for them. Specifically, Daniels wanted to pitch Landis on a screenplay the studio had in development called Into the Night. Ron Koslow, the writer of the 1976 Sam Elliott drama Lifeguard, had written the script on spec which the studio had picked up, about an average, ordinary guy who, upon discovering his wife is having an affair, who finds himself in the middle of an international incident involving jewel smuggling out of Iran. Maybe this might be something he would be interested in working on, as it would be both right up his alley, a comedy, and something he'd never done before, a romantic action thriller.   Landis would agree to make the film, if he were allowed some leeway in casting.   For the role of Ed Okin, an aerospace engineer whose insomnia leads him to the Los Angeles International Airport in search of some rest, Landis wanted Jeff Goldblum, who had made more than 15 films over the past decade, including Annie Hall, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Big Chill and The Right Stuff, but had never been the lead in a movie to this point. For Diana, the jewel smuggler who enlists the unwitting Ed into her strange world, Landis wanted Michelle Pfeiffer, the gorgeous star of Grease 2 and Scarface. But mostly, Landis wanted to fill as many of supporting roles with either actors he had worked with before, like Dan Aykroyd and Bruce McGill, or filmmakers who were either contemporaries of Landis and/or were filmmakers he had admired. Amongst those he would get would be Jack Arnold, Paul Bartel, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Demme, Richard Franklin, Amy Heckerling, Colin Higgins, Jim Henson, Lawrence Kasdan, Jonathan Lynn, Paul Mazursky, Don Siegel, and Roger Vadim, as well as Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, Midnight Cowboy writer Waldo Salt, personal trainer to the stars Jake Steinfeld, music legends David Bowie and Carl Perkins, and several recent Playboy Playmates. Landis himself would be featured as one of the four Iranian agents chasing Pfeiffer's character.   While neither Perkins nor Bowie would appear on the soundtrack to the film, Landis was able to get blues legend B.B. King to perform three songs, two brand new songs as well as a cover of the Wilson Pickett classic In the Midnight Hour.   Originally scheduled to be produced by Joel Douglas, brother of Michael and son of Kirk, Into the Night would go into production on April 2nd, 1984, under the leadership of first-time producer Ron Koslow and Landis's producing partner George Folsey, Jr.   The movie would make great use of dozens of iconic Los Angeles locations, including the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the Shubert Theatre in Century City, the Ships Coffee Shot on La Cienega, the flagship Tiffanys and Company in Beverly Hills, Randy's Donuts, and the aforementioned airport. But on Monday, April 23rd, the start of the fourth week of shooting, the director was ordered to stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter due to the accident on the Twilight Zone set. But the trial would not start until months after Into the Night was scheduled to complete its shoot. In an article about the indictment printed in the Los Angeles Times two days later, Universal Studios head Sean Daniels was insistent the studio had made no special plans in the event of Landis' possible conviction. Had he been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, Landis was looking at up to six years in prison.   The film would wrap production in early June, and Landis would spend the rest of the year in an editing bay on the Universal lot with his editor, Malcolm Campbell, who had also cut An American Werewolf in London, Trading Places, the Michael Jackson Thriller short film, and Landis's segment and the Landis-shot prologue to The Twilight Zone.   During this time, Universal would set a February 22nd, 1985 release date for the film, an unusual move, as every movie Landis had made since Kentucky Fried Movie had been released during the summer movie season, and there was nothing about Into the Night that screamed late Winter.   I've long been a proponent of certain movies having a right time to be released, and late February never felt like the right time to release a morbid comedy, especially one that takes place in sunny Los Angeles. When Into the Night opened in New York City, at the Loews New York Twin at Second Avenue and 66th Street, the high in the city was 43 degrees, after an overnight low of 25 degrees. What New Yorker wants to freeze his or her butt off to see Jeff Goldblum run around Los Angeles with Michelle Pfeiffer in a light red leather jacket and a thin white t-shirt, if she's wearing anything at all? Well, actually, that last part wasn't so bad. But still, a $40,000 opening weekend gross at the 525 seat New York Twin would be one of the better grosses for all of the city. In Los Angeles, where the weather was in the 60s all weekend, the film would gross $65,500 between the 424 seat Avco Cinema 2 in Westwood and the 915 seat Cinerama Dome in Hollywood.   The reviews, like with many of Landis's films, were mixed.   Richard Corliss of Time Magazine would find the film irresistible and a sparkling thriller, calling Goldblum and Pfeiffer two of the most engaging young actors working. Peter Travers, writing for People Magazine at the time, would anoint the film with a rarely used noun in film criticism, calling it a “pip.” Travers would also call Pfeiffer a knockout of the first order, with a newly uncovered flair for comedy. Guess he hadn't seen her in the 1979 ABC spin-off of Animal House, called Delta House, in which she played The Bombshell, or in Floyd Mutrix's 1980 comedy The Hollywood Knights.    But the majority of critics would find plenty to fault with the film. The general critical feeling for the film was that it was too inside baseball for most people, as typified by Vincent Canby in his review for the New York Times. Canby would dismiss the film as having an insidey, which is not a word, manner of a movie made not for the rest of us but for the moviemakers on the Bel Air circuit who watch each other's films in their own screening room.   After two weeks of exclusive engagements in New York and Los Angeles, Universal would expand the film to 1096 screens on March 8th, where the film would gross $2.57m, putting it in fifth place for the weekend, nearly a million dollars less than fellow Universal Pictures film The Breakfast Club, which was in its fourth week of release and in ninety fewer theatres. After a fourth weekend of release, where the film would come in fifth place again with $1.95m, now nearly a million and a half behind The Breakfast Club, Universal would start to migrate the film out of first run theatres and into dollar houses, in order to make room for another film of theirs, Peter Bogdanovich's comeback film Mask, which would be itself expanding from limited release to wide release on March 22nd. Into the Night would continue to play at the second-run theatres for months, but its final gross of $7.56m wouldn't even cover the film's $8m production budget.   Despite the fact that it has both Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer as its leads, Into the Night would not become a cult film on home video the way that many films neglected by audiences in theatres would find a second life.   I thought the film was good when I saw it opening night at the Aptos Twin. I enjoyed the obvious chemistry between the two leads, and I enjoyed the insidey manner in which there were so many famous filmmakers doing cameos in the film. I remember wishing there was more of David Bowie, since there were very few people, actors or musicians, who would fill the screen with so much charm and charisma, even when playing a bad guy. And I enjoyed listening to B.B. King on the soundtrack, as I had just started to get into the blues during my senior year of high school.   I revisited the film, which you can rent or buy on Apple TV, Amazon and several other major streaming services, for the podcast, and although I didn't enjoy the film as much as I remember doing so in 1985, it was clear that these two actors were going to become big stars somewhere down the road. Goldblum, of course, would become a star the following year, thanks to his incredible work in David Cronenberg's The Fly. Incidentally, Goldblum and Cronenberg would meet for the first time on the set of Into the Night. And, of course, Michelle Pfeiffer would explode in 1987, thanks to her work with Susan Sarandon, Cher and Jack Nicholson in The Witches of Eastwick, which she would follow up with not one, not two but three powerhouse performances of completely different natures in 1988, in Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob, Robert Towne's Tequila Sunrise, and her Oscar-nominated work in Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons. Incidentally, Pfeiffer and Jonathan Demme would also meet for the first time on the set of Into the Night, so maybe it was kismet that all these things happened in part because of the unusual casting desires of John Landis.   Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again soon, when Episode 108, on Martha Coolidge's Valley Girl, is released.     Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Into the Night.   The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment.   Thank you again.   Good night.

Instead of describing our Swiss Army Man episode, I thought we should hear from the critics of the movie:"Incredible and not in a good way." says Wendy Ide of the Observer (UK)"By the end, having failed in its attempt at cleverness, the movie veers into sentiment, the inevitable last resort. The movie fails at that, too." raves Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle"Dano, as a dude who washes up on a desert island, and Radcliffe, as a farting corpse, go their own nutter way. This is such a baller of a movie that you keep wishing it would be better than it is." cries Peter Travers of Rolling Stone

It's just a number! Join BP, Coop and Justin as we discuss The Number 23, the 2007 film starring Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen and directed by Joel Schumacher in which Carrey stars as a man who becomes obsessed with the 23 enigma once he reads about it in a strange book that seemingly mirrors his own life. Follow the Complete Guide to Horror Movies podcast on our social channels below. ↪ Facebook ↪ TikTok ↪ Twitter ↪ Instagram ↪ Subscribe to our YouTube channel ↪ Tip us $5 ↪ Linktree The Number 23 has an approval rating of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 189 reviews; the average rating is 3.50/10. The site's consensus reads: "Jim Carrey has been sharp in a number of non-comedic roles, but this lurid, overheated, and self serious potboiler is not one of them. The Number 23 is clumsy, unengaging, and mostly confusing." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B−" on scale of A+ to F. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone declared the film the year's worst star vehicle on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007, while Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent said the film "delivers a rambling, confusing narrative with only a few stylistic elements thrown in". On its opening weekend, The Number 23 took in $14,602,867, coming in behind Ghost Rider's second weekend. After five weeks of release, the film grossed $35,193,167 at the domestic box office and $42,373,648 overseas, for a worldwide total of $77,566,815. The film was released on Region 1 DVD on July 24, 2007; The release contains both the theatrical version and an extended version, which runs an additional four minutes. This is the last in New Line's Infinifilm series. Special features include deleted scenes, such as a much more abstract alternate opening and an alternate ending that gives a few more details about Walter's prison sentence and hints at the possibility that the son could be subject to the same obsessions as his father. The disc also includes interviews with mathematicians, psychologists, and numerologists. #horror #movie #death #horrorfilm #scarymovie #completeguidetohorror #horrormovie #scary #creepy #graphic #psychologicalhorror #23enigma #enigma #milecyrus #jimcarrey #mikewillmadeit #partycannon #podcast #retrospective #review #filmreview

It's just a number...Join BP, Coop and Justin as we discuss The Number 23, the 2007 film starring Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen and directed by Joel Schumacher in which Carrey stars as a man who becomes obsessed with the 23 enigma once he reads about it in a strange book that seemingly mirrors his own life. Follow the Complete Guide to Horror Movies podcast on our social channels below.↪ Facebook↪ TikTok↪ Twitter↪ Instagram↪ Subscribe to our YouTube channel↪ Tip us $5↪ LinktreeCritical ReceptionThe Number 23 has an approval rating of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 189 reviews; the average rating is 3.50/10. The site's consensus reads: "Jim Carrey has been sharp in a number of non-comedic roles, but this lurid, overheated, and self serious potboiler is not one of them. The Number 23 is clumsy, unengaging, and mostly confusing."Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B−" on scale of A+ to F.Peter Travers of Rolling Stone declared the film the year's worst star vehicle on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007, while Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent said the film "delivers a rambling, confusing narrative with only a few stylistic elements thrown in".Box officeOn its opening weekend, The Number 23 took in $14,602,867, coming in behind Ghost Rider's second weekend. After five weeks of release, the film grossed $35,193,167 at the domestic box office and $42,373,648 overseas, for a worldwide total of $77,566,815. Home mediaThe film was released on Region 1 DVD on July 24, 2007; The release contains both the theatrical version and an extended version, which runs an additional four minutes. This is the last in New Line's Infinifilm series. Special features include deleted scenes, such as a much more abstract alternate opening and an alternate ending that gives a few more details about Walter's prison sentence and hints at the possibility that the son could be subject to the same obsessions as his father. The disc also includes interviews with mathematicians, psychologists, and numerologists.#horror #movie #death #horrorfilm #scarymovie #completeguidetohorror #horrormovie #scary #creepy #graphic #psychologicalhorror #23enigma #enigma #milecyrus #jimcarrey #mikewillmadeit #partycannon #podcast #retrospective #review #filmreview

Ratings and reviews, who needs them? In this episode we discuss critics, from the late and great Roger Ebert, to the infamous Armond White. Plus we look at what reviews mean to us, and whether it changes our decision to watch a movie. Finally, Parker gets very upset about the difference between Rotten Tomatoes and […]

Or, How To Not Exactly Succeed In Corporate Satire While Actually REALLY Trying. We might have felt differently about In Good Company if we didn't live in the Republic of Bezos, in a timeline with Succession, but we do, we do, and a movie that tries to send up corporate machinations really needs to have an R rating to work with. Still, this gentle, dated, clueless-about-BFAs-and-NYU "Hallmark movie for boys" isn't unpleasant, and DQ is quite good in it despite being obliged to dribble a basketball AND deliver a Notwork speech during the big boss's TED talk. Past its sell-by date, but still safe: it's an all-new Quaid In Full. Overall score: 5.5 QQQ score: 8 Days since a lost Kuffs accident: 28 SHOW NOTES Follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/quaidinfullpod) Get EVEN MORE Qontent (...sorry) at our Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/quaidinfull) In Good Company on Prime (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00CSBLJ0E/) Ebert's review (https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/in-good-company-2005) Peter Travers's for Rolling Stone (https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/in-good-company-249546/) Ruthe Stein's for the Chron (https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Meet-the-new-boss-not-quite-the-same-as-the-old-2739027.php) Nathin Rabin's for AV Club (https://www.avclub.com/in-good-company-1798200312) S02E02: GORP (https://quaidinfull.fireside.fm/11) It's Christmastown (https://daveandjebarentmean.libsyn.com/)

http://www.claynferno.com/ http://claynferno.substack.com http://twitter.com/claynferno http://twitch.tv/claynferno http://youtube.com/claynferno Never have I tuned the algorithm so quickly on YouTube so quickly to my immediate interests. An hour after completing the Season 4 Finale of the top-streamed Taylor Sheridan show Yellowstone, I'm being fed top bull rider videos from Vice News, Stories from The Bunkhouse from the franchise itself, and Peter Travers and Kevin Costner's making of Yellowstone interview, worthy of the embed below. Costner was pitched Yellowstone as a 10-part movie, not a series The actor only has 5-10 Western movies he thinks are up to snuff Built 3 canoes before he was 18 after admiring James Stewart in How The West Was Won at a birthday party when he was 6 years old Costner is set to start shooting period Western “Horizon” in August The twenty-minute video gives some insight into the man who is and who plays John Dutton. I saved the Costner interview to watch after a battery of Entertainment Tonight interviews with the other stars of the show. For the record, I've been watching this mostly on my own, this is not a show I watch with my long-suffering partner who I keep telling to “Cowboy Up”. Tonight, one of her burlesque troupe members was here with her to prep for a show, while I somehow made my way through the Season Finale of Yellowstone. I have 1883 to watch now, but I am sad that I am so caught up. I cried 5 times. For the record, I cry when I see Costner in Man of Steel professing “You ARE my son” to young Kal-El. Every. Damn Time. At least 3 of the Yellowstone cries were for these father/son moments between the complex characters in the show. I discovered recently that my current obsession makes a lot of sense. I'm really enjoying my new and gigantic TV with Yellowstone. Tyler Sheridan, real-life cowboy, actor, and creator of the show is responsible for one of my favorite movies in recent years, Sicario and the sequel (not as great in my mind, Sicario: Day of The Soldado. At my friend's wedding in Puerto Rico, Benicio Del Toro was at the same resort hotel. Christ, you could have filmed part of this movie at this hotel. President Obama and the First Lady stayed there too. Badass place, with parrots. Prior to my recent deep dive into this show, I had credited Sicario director Denis Villeneuve with the genius of that story. Visually, he's my favorite working director in the business today. I love the overhead shots and sweeping vistas. The story presents an insider knowledge of drug cartels or at least believable fiction. For some reason, I never had a reason to look at who wrote the story I found so compelling. Sheridan's career is vast, including Oscar nominations for 2016's Hell or High Water. You can be your whole bunkhouse paycheck that I will be seeing that one soon. This guy is amazing and I wish the expanded Yellowstone universe with 1883 and 6666 all the success in the world. Amazing cast, writing, action over all of these projects. Actors go to Cowboy Camp. The production films on location. Accuracy is matched with the beauty and sweeping landscapes of The West. I'm not sure why you are not watching Yellowstone yet. I'm already planning a Montana vacation. Last week, we lost one of the heroes of Grunge. So many are gone now. Rest in Peace, Mark Lanegan. Here's Mark with Layne playing “Long Gone Day” with Mad Season. Here's Mark with PJ Harvey “Hit The City”. So much loss and it especially hurts when it's someone struggling with sobriety (not that this was his cause of death, that has yet to be revealed and he was sick recently). Well, Isn't This Great? with Clay N. Ferno is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. I Think This Is Great! with Clay N. Ferno is an interview podcast about people doing and being their best. We talk about compassionate work, working on teams, getting over hurdles and doing great things even when the chips are down. This is part productivity podcast and part interview show about fascinating people in my life. Welcome, and please let me know what you think is great!

Mark Ehrenkranz - For 22 years, Mark has been producing The New York Film Critics Series® (NYFCS®), one of the leading US word-of-mouth and marketing screening companies that he created. The events are moderated by Peter Travers, film critic for Rolling Stone Magazine and ABC's Popcorn, along with additional coverage by Alison Bailes of BBC, More Magazine, WOR Radio, and The Charlie Rose Show. The series presents live, interactive, in-theater; pre-release movies. Check out Mark's projects: NYFCS SIZZLE https://vimeo.com/137689067 NY FIlm Critics: https://www.facebook.com/NYFilmCritic... COOL JOBS BURTON https://vimeo.com/16511340 COOL JOBS DANIEL KATZ – FILM A24 - https://vimeo.com/16516352 ADDICTION WARRIORS TEASER REEL https://vimeo.com/506192771/7851ecafd... More about Simba Productions: http://www.simbaproductions.net/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/camillekauer/message

The greatest Tarantino movie, not made by Quentin... 1993's 'True Romance' has his DNA all over it, but it's also clearly Tony Scott's film. Join Travis and Luca as they take a look at this cannot-be-forgotten movie that Peter Travers called, "pure Tarantino: a full-throttle blast of bloody action and verbal fireworks." Watch 'True Romance' here.

In this episode we welcome local Haunted Attraction owners Tammy and Walt of Edge of Insanity.  Nothing quite says Halloween like Haunted Houses, so we felt they'd be perfect Guests to help us  examine "Halloween Kills" (2021) for the Halloween Episode. Tammy and Walt run the Edge of Insanity Haunted attraction in Kokomo Indiana and this weekend is the last weekend to experience the thrills this season. Find Tickets and pre-order via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EdgeofInsanityHauntTo help paint the picture of our hopes being crushed, we used an article published by ABC News, but written by Peter Travers of Good Morning America. They agree that regardless of whether folks knew it was a trilogy or not, the final product falls short of what audiences should be paying for in theaters and via streaming. https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/review-halloween-kills-fun-fright-fest-falls-short/story?id=80522629&fbclid=IwAR0-HY-j1fjMXfMGLDxXbBA44cmW1G0hYvUT3e6Xj3ixq2LuzEzuGRLKez4 For the bulk of our episode, we each share 5 of our all time favorite Horror films. With a total list of 20 between the 4 of us, we discuss picks from absolute Classics to some recent and eclectic picks (as is known to happen with Kelly). Save 15% on your Order at Aventino Watches with the Code: hohen15http://www.aventinowatches.com/ Podcasting isn't hard when you have the right partners, and the team at Buzzsprout is passionate about helping you succeed. Join over a hundred thousand podcasters already using Buzzsprout to get their message out to the world.Let's create something great, together!https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1466452  Support the show

Actress Beanie Feldstein chats with Peter Travers about "Impeachment" and her upcoming projects, including "The Humans" and "Funny Girl."

There has been significant disruptions in the border town of Goondiwindi after a COVID scare, all coming just before the start of a record harvests and the town's Chamber of Commerce president Peter Travers says it has people concerned and Nolan's Interstate Transport, a company that trucks fresh produce all along the eastern seaboard, says it has had instances of food perishing because of long waits at border check points especially over the weekends.

Film critic Peter Travers offers a look ahead at the new films of the season.

Film critic Peter Travers on the top movies to be released this summer and why you should see them in theaters.

Film critic Peter Travers offers his take on who will take home the Oscar statuettes at the 2021 Academy Awards.

In this special edition of 'Popcorn,' directors Chloé Zhao and Regina King talks to Peter Travers about the making of "Nomadland" and "One Night in Miami."

In this special edition of "Popcorn," film critic Peter Travers looks back on the year in movies.

Margie hates him so much that she never bothered to learn his real name and calls him McFarland the whole episode. Zoe hates him so much she'd rather get on stage at a Norah Jones concert and sing a love ballad a cappella than watch another movie of his. Other men we hate on in this episode: Daniel Tosh, Peter Travers, and Ryan Reynolds. Plus, Margie gets McHale'd, Zoe learns some fun facts about heterosexual intimacy, and you lucky listeners get pro tips about sex, drugs, and vegetables. Oh, yeah, btw we're watching Seth McWhatever's Ted from 2012, starring hate crime perpetrator Mark Wahlberg and the smoke monster from Lost (who you might know as Mila Kunis).This Film Is Not Yet Rated: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493459/I Think We're Alone Now (Tiffany documentary): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152828/Reese Witherspoon Fan Club: https://www.fanpop.com/clubs/reese-witherspoonTweet us your sorry-babe-I-gotta-go celeb crush: @ClubSpiteWrite to us to correct Margie's pronunciation of MacFarlane: firstruleofspiteclub@gmail.comIntro music by Hot Lava.

Film critic Peter Travers offers a look at new movies set to hit theaters soon.

Jonathan chats to Tim Horgan of www.Submit.com who can take the pain out of form filling using software to collect, manage and evaluate all types of submissions and applications. Peter Travers of the Cork Business League (www.corkbusinessleague.ie) who is connecting businesses through sport and Brid O'Connell from (www.guaranteedirish.ie) calls on Cork consumers to get behind the “G” and support local.

We were so excited to talk about the new film released on HULU featuring Andy Samberg and Cristin Miliotti, Palm Springs.Both Nate Stone and Seggie Isho saw Palm Springs before The Avid Indoorsmen and raved about it so much that it inspired us to watch it and decide to do an episode on it. Since they inspired us to check this out initially, we thought it was only right to have them on and give us their hot takes. SPOILER ALERT: It was a super good time.We ended this episode with an Imitation Game and our Patrons get to hear us draft our Top 5 Films with a City in the Title! If you're not a patron of ours, get on it!We hope you all enjoy checking out some new cinema even though we're not getting any in the theaters for a while. This can tide you over until we can get back to the big screen. Stay healthy and safe out there!3:00 Forgetting Sarah Marshall4:50 The Old Guard6:37 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia8:50 We Are Freestyle Love Supreme11:28 Buegs' Favorite Meal13:01 Origin by Dan Brown 16:12 Plugarooni's 16:49 Patreon.com/theavidindoorsmen 19:06 @SNCSeggie @nathanrodes21:39 Palm Springs Plot Synopsis22:07 Rotten Tomatoes22:30 Brian Lowry from CNN.com23:35 Peter Travers from The Rolling Stone24:18 Buegs' Hot Take27:17 Rob's Hot Take30:08 Nate's Hot Take32:18 Seggie's Hot Take33:40 The Dude Award39:28 The Tucci Award46:18 The Dingus58:58 Show Me The Money1:06:19 Buegs Boo Hoo Moments1:11:28 Movie Trivia1:15:30 Judgement Day1:18:08 The Imitation Game1:34:17 Top 5 Films with a City in the Title

“With a script by Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy, based on The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper, the film emerges as an action thriller which never loses sight of the futility of the war being fought. You could also watch this intensely powerful movie, which Lurie directs with a keen understanding of the mechanics of battle and an overriding humanism that puts flesh-and-blood on the bones of the tragic story being told about Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV, one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict” Peter Travers  Rolling Stone Rod Lurie attended West Point and served four years as a combat arms officer. Started the Broadcast Film Critics Assn with Joey Berlin. Then turned his attention to writing and directing in TV and film. It all came together when he wrote and directed the Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated The Contender. This conversation about his latest film The Outpost is a reflection of my admiration for Rod and all he’s done. The Outpost plays to all of his strengths., the characters of the real soldiers involved and honoring the men who battled that day. His toughest critics were the families of those who died. It was vital that they saw their loved ones portrayed as the warriors they were. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outpost_(2020_film)

Natalie Zfat advises fashion brands to be people-first and value-driven, especially on social media. She recommends that brands and influencers create content that is either funny, beautiful or valuable, as a means to authentically engage, rather than focusing too much on the analytics. According to Mark Cuban, “Natalie Zfat doesn’t mess around.” After landing her dream job writing for Rolling Stone at the age of 21, Natalie recognized the growing demand for digital and started her social media consulting company in 2010, earning the praise of her former boss, Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers. Ten years later, Natalie has been hailed by the New York Times as a "social media expert" and has partnered with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Samsung, American Express, Lyft and Facebook. Hosting video interviews, emceeing award shows and implementing full-scale social media takeovers, Natalie gains millions of impressions for the brands she advocates for. She loves sharing her thought leadership in her Forbes column, at conferences and universities, and on television, including CNBC, the TODAY Show, Carnegie Mellon, NYU Stern School of Business, SXSW and CES. Natalie’s personal mantra is that success means never doing the same thing twice, unless it was really fun the first time. Her beloved social media community of 100K+ followers are dreamers, doers and entrepreneurs, from college students to CEOs. When she’s not engaging with them, you can find her and her laptop out and about around New York City, always with a smile and a soy chai latte. Learn more: LinkedIn | Natalie Zfat Hosted by: Christopher Lacy, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design Produced by: Joshua Williams, Assistant Professor, Parsons School of Design Executive Producer: Fashion Consort Follow the podcast on Instagram: @RetailRevolutionPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special edition of "Popcorn with Peter Travers," the Rolling Stone film critic shares his list of the top 10 movies of 2020 (so far).

We're back with some more Social Distancing Sessions and this time we brought a couple of our favorite college buddies onto the pod! One of these guys you've heard during our Marvel Mania episodes and our Inglorious Podcasts, NYC actor, Benny Elledge. The other is Taylor Hayes, who's also an NYC actor and is making his Avid Indoorsmen debut!Before we break down the film with Benny and Taylor we discuss the last movies we've seen, what we're streaming and what we've been eating. We had too much fun discussing Rounders with these two. It's one of those movies we've all quoted forever and it was great to chat with two actors about the performances in this film. This episode ends with a fun version of The Imitation Game and then our patrons over at Patreon get to hear us draft our Top 5 Favorite Matt Damon Films. We hope you're all staying safe and sane during these tough times. Go watch Rounders, listen to this episode and have fun being distracted from the world for a little while. Enjoy!2:12 Outbreak4:06 21 Bridges6:44 100 Humans8:10 Harlan Coben's The Stranger10:00 Buegs' Favorite Meal10:44 Hofbräu Wirsthaus Berlin https://www.hofbraeu-wirtshaus.de/berlin13:07 Plugarooni's13:40 patreon.com/theavidindoorsmen16:24 @Benny_Elledge and @Taylor_C_Hayes18:44 Rounders Plot Synopsis19:22 Rotten Tomatoes19:52 Rita Kempley from the Washington Post21:11 Peter Travers from Rolling Stone22:05 Buegs' Hot Take23:51 Rob's Hot Take25:30 Taylor's Hot Take27:09 Benny's Hot Take33:07 The Dude Award40:13 The Tucci Award58:42 The Dingus1:16:45 Show Me The Money1:28:31 Buegs Boo Hoo Moments1:29:42 Movie Trivia1:34:38 Judgement Day1:37:21 The Imitation Game1:55:06 Top 5 Favorite Matt Damon Films Draft

Mike Rucker is the Vice President, Branded Content at NBC News at NBC Universal. Today we talk about his move to New York in search of an acting career, and an unorthodox path to branded content that includes interviewing Maggie Gyllenhaal, meeting Peter Travers and ending up at 30 Rock after all.

In this special edition of "Popcorn with Peter Travers," Peter Travers offers his take on who will win at the 2020 Academy Awards. Check out our other podcasts: http://bit.ly/2eBJMNa * ABOUT PETER TRAVERS: Peter Travers an American film critic, author and journalist. For some 25 years, Travers has written for Rolling Stone. He personally screens nearly 400 movies per year and releases weekly reviews. Travers is the nation's most blurbed film critic, according to eFilmCritic.com. Travers is also host of ABC's "Popcorn With Peter Travers," where he interviews actors, directors and Broadway performers about their roles and their lives. Popcorn on Twitter: http://abcn.ws/2gGYRiD Popcorn on Facebook: http://abcn.ws/2f3iHDw Popcorn on YouTube: http://abcn.ws/2gyswtx Popcorn on Instagram: http://abcn.ws/2fC0Ak2

In the inaugural episode of Spite Club, we look at Fight Club, David Fincher’s 1999 oppressed white man cri de coeur. We also go over the first few rules of Spite Club, Zoe debunks Peter Travers, and Margie makes incorrect assumptions about the Lorena Bobbitt case. Slide!Tweet us @clubspite, follow us on IG @spiteclubpodcast. Intro music from “Ghosties” by Hot Lava.

Peter Travers says Alfre Woodard brings the toll of the death penalty to life in her new film "Clemency." In this epsiode, Woodard talks about her role in the film and in "the village of acting." * ABOUT PETER TRAVERS: Peter Travers an American film critic, author and journalist. For some 25 years, Travers has written for Rolling Stone. He personally screens nearly 400 movies per year and releases weekly reviews. Travers is the nation's most blurbed film critic, according to eFilmCritic.com. Travers is also host of ABC's "Popcorn With Peter Travers," where he interviews actors, directors and Broadway performers about their roles and their lives. Popcorn on Twitter: http://abcn.ws/2gGYRiD Popcorn on Facebook: http://abcn.ws/2f3iHDw Popcorn on YouTube: http://abcn.ws/2gyswtx Popcorn on Instagram: http://abcn.ws/2fC0Ak2

This week we chat with Dani Altamura about which of life's truths can be gleaned from the new-age Sci-fi Broadway hit - Be More Chill!Peter Travers of Rolling Stone Magazine wrote, "The audiences who made this show happen digitally are now making pilgrimages to the Lyceum Theater to see those songs done live by a talented young cast with enough juice to ignite every light on Broadway... By the time Jeremy belts out his final number, 'Voices in My Head,' you’ll be hearing those voices, too, in a wow of a musical that comes on like gangbusters."- FURTHER READING -Wiki - Musical, Joe Iconis, NoveliTunesSpotifyLike us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! Support us on Patreon!Email us: musicalstaughtmepodcast@gmail.comVisit our home on the web thatsnotcanonproductions.comOur theme song and interstitial music all by the one and only Benedict Braxton Smith. Find out more about him at www.benedictbraxtonsmith.com

A substantial part of Terrence Malick's latest movie “A Hidden Life” takes place in a German prison where the film's protagonist, a real historical figure now considered a Catholic saint, Franz Jägerstätter, is being held in prison for refusing to swear a loyalty oath to Hitler. As he mills about the prison courtyard with his fellow inmates, two words loom large on the stone wall that fences them in: “Sprechen Verboten.” Speaking prohibited. Rod Dreher, senior editor at the American Conservative, has called “A Hidden Life,” “the best evocation of the gospel ever put to film.” That's a serious claim to make. And I might agree. Malick, a director known for transportive cinematography, takes viewers into the remote Austrian village of St. Radegund in the early 1940s. There, Franz, his wife Fani, and their three small daughters, faithfully farm their land and faithfully attend the local Catholic Church. When Franz hears about Hitler's conquest, he begins to worry. His worst fears are realized when he's called up for military service but refuses to swear the required oath to the Führer. Ultimately, Franz Jägerstätter was imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately, executed. Not only does the film powerfully portray the suffering Franz is forced to endure, but how his decision to refuse the oath baffles nearly everyone else around him. Apparently, it's a decision that still baffles people today, especially the film critics. For example, in a review for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers faults Malick for giving audiences, quote, “very little to help us understand the man behind the saint” and next to nothing about “the thought process that helped Franz hold steadfast.” Apparently for Travers, devout Christian faith is “very little.” In reality, by portraying Franz's devout Christian faith so clearly, Malick has told audiences all we need to know. Before his imprisonment, Franz seeks counsel from his local priest and eventually the bishop. Both warn what his obstinance might bring to bear on his vulnerable family. Even so, he holds fast to his faith, and his wife holds fast to hers. Given the central role faith plays in the film, one might expect it to be a bit more preachy. In fact, there's very little dialogue, preaching or otherwise, in the whole three-hour film. While we hear the words of faith in Franz's letters to Fani and in Fani's prayers for Franz, it's almost as if the sign on the prison wall, “speaking prohibited,” is the film's central theme. Thus, in this film, the gospel's power and Franz's faith is mostly shown, not spoken. Perhaps that's why certain secular critics missed the obvious. Franz doesn't give a theological lecture on the historicity of the resurrection or virtue signal via rousing testimony about his own moral courage. His is a quiet faithfulness, first shown by how he works his farm, trusting God for harvest, and eventually shown as he follows his conscience, which for some reason, just won't allow him to say the words of the oath that's required. Franz faces every temptation to compromise. His neighbors and family even appeal to his own values in attempting to change his mind. Isn't he being prideful or judgmental by refusing to swear the oath? Doesn't he have a duty to his family? And, of course, there's the temptation to be “practical.” What if, Franz's lawyer asks him, he could serve as a medic? What if he didn't have to carry arms? Would that solve the problem? Franz's final answer is finally put into words, in a powerful scene in which a Nazi officer - not unlike Pontius Pilate questioning Jesus - asks why he's doing this. Franz's answer: “I don't know. I just know that something inside of me tells me I can't swear that oath.” This is the Christian life. Everyday faithfulness to what the Holy Spirit is asking of us. Will his defiance change the course of the war? Will it bring down Hitler? Probably not. Will it endanger him and his family? Definitely yes. But God doesn't call us to results; those are always and everywhere His. He calls us to obedience - even if it's hidden. I cannot say that Franz's decision is prescriptive for everyone else. The key is that Franz must follow God's call on his own life. In an early scene, Franz tells a frightened fellow inmate to “trust what you knew in better times.” If we, like Franz, build a solid foundation for faith in better times, we will have the ears to hear what God would have us do in the midst of our trials. This film will give you lots to think and talk about it. Please know it contains some violence, and its subject matter is obviously intense. But I recommend it heartily.

Yaron Zilberman, Yehuda Nahari Halevi and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Incitement, the complicated history of the Middle East, justice, peace and racism, inclusion, war and the real cost of radicalization. Trailer Synopsis: “This rigorous psychological thriller by American-Israeli director Yaron Zilberman (A Late Quartet) depicts the lead-up to the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin through the worldview of his assassin, Yigal Amir.In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel, was assassinated by an ultranationalist, right-wing Zionist who opposed the leader's signing of the Oslo Accords. Rabin's murder is held to be a definitive — and infamous — moment in the struggling peace process with Palestinians and also in Israel's charged history. So much so that it has never been depicted in a feature film, until now. Israeli-American filmmaker Yaron Zilberman sets out, with a rigourous, exacting gaze, to expose — through the eyes of Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir — the motivations that led to Rabin's death. Set in the year preceding the incident, Zilberman's meticulously crafted period piece is embedded in the world of Amir (portrayed with unsettling stoicism by Yehuda Nahari Halevi), moving from his family home to his failed relationships to his radicalization on illegal settlements. At its core a psychological thriller, Zilberman's film also neatly weaves in archival footage, foregrounding the high political stakes of the era, and boldly showing the ways in which Israeli society incited one man to such deadly lengths. In this way, and with unflinching clarity, the film draws connective lines from the past to the present. Co-written by Zilberman and Ron Leshem (who penned the novel and script for the Oscar-nominated Beaufort), and made without state money, Incitement is a gripping work of cinema that concretely writes into history a moment that many would rather not reflect on.” With thanks to Kiva Reardon - TIFF About the Guests: Yaron Zilberman was born in Haifa, Israel. He studied physics at MIT before turning to filmmaking. He wrote, produced, and directed the documentary feature Watermarks. He also directed, co-wrote and produced A Late Quartet, which starred Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, and Catherine Keener. The film premiered in the Special Presentation program at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Inspired by and structured around Beethoven's Opus 131, the film follows the world-renowned Fugue String Quartet after its cellist Peter Mitchell is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. It was a New York Times Critics Pick. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers called it “a shining gem of a movie” and Roger Ebert said, “it does one of the most interesting things any film can do. It shows how skilled professionals work.” Zilberman made his directorial debut with his theatrical feature documentary Watermarks, which follows the champion women swimmers of Hakoah Vienna as they reunite at their old swimming pool 65 years after they were forced by the Nazis to flee Austria. Watermarks won nine film festival awards and enjoyed a successful theatrical run internationally.Yehuda Nahari was born in 1985 in Herzliya. After graduating from school he joined the army between 2003-2006. In 2007 he met Eyal Cohen, manager of "The Way" where he was discovered and this inspired Yehuda to become an actor. In 2008 he played a series of youth television series "Our High School Song" as "Asi". As part of his school studies he also underwent an acting technique course with Ruth Dytches. Image Copyright: Yaron Zilberman and Metro Communications. Used with permission. F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission. For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here. With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Marriage Story" is "one of those rare times where a movie turns out perfect," says Peter Travers. Adam Driver, who stars in the film opposite Scarlett Johansson, reflects on the scenes that moved him the most. * ABOUT PETER TRAVERS: Peter Travers an American film critic, author and journalist. For some 25 years, Travers has written for Rolling Stone. He personally screens nearly 400 movies per year and releases weekly reviews. Travers is the nation's most blurbed film critic, according to eFilmCritic.com. Travers is also host of ABC's "Popcorn With Peter Travers," where he interviews actors, directors and Broadway performers about their roles and their lives. Popcorn on Twitter: http://abcn.ws/2gGYRiD Popcorn on Facebook: http://abcn.ws/2f3iHDw Popcorn on YouTube: http://abcn.ws/2gyswtx Popcorn on Instagram: http://abcn.ws/2fC0Ak2

Guest - James Cirenza works at the Academy - the deep Gemini Man discussion that you came here for - tying The Score to the extended universe - James Cameron: unimpressed with HFR - Blank Check shouts out, Tom Cruise charming all of us - how many frames is too many frames? - getting that soft R, dreams of making the next mediocre heist movie - Frank OzCast, Motherless Brooklyn Trailer un-appreciation - Keeping the FaithCast, learning how to burgle IRL - getting high in Canada, Heists and Jazz - scram kids, BMW CarCast, learning French with Will - Marlon Brando is more fun than Frank Oz - the name we can’t think of is Sam Eagle - Louie Anderson: we have a gig for you, Ben Foster talk - Peter Travers review review, watch the Italian Job - Angela Bassett appreciation, finally a feasible movie apartment - Money laundering tips, rating Spidermen, heist stuff - Jamie Harrold appreciation, Gary Farmer talk - movie hacking fun, actually Canada - Aude Bronson Howard - suit master - gaming the system (for a little while), don’t become a high end thief - Alicia Keys talk, no more megastars - Moonlight Sonata youtube comment section is going off - ElephantCast, talking The Office - music video talk - don’t throw away your cargo pants, 2001 fashion hacks - the downfall of TRL, talking color temperatures - Little/Director X resumeCast, Peter Gallagher talk - Alicia Keys: walking down a street & wearing hats - Parasite careful anticipation, where is the Music Video Internet Database?

Academy Award winner Billy Bob Thornton is back in studio with Peter Travers, talking about the making of his hit legal drama series "Goliath." Check out our other podcasts: http://bit.ly/2eBJMNa * ABOUT PETER TRAVERS: Peter Travers an American film critic, author and journalist. For some 25 years, Travers has written for Rolling Stone. He personally screens nearly 400 movies per year and releases weekly reviews. Travers is the nation's most blurbed film critic, according to eFilmCritic.com. Travers is also host of ABC's "Popcorn With Peter Travers," where he interviews actors, directors and Broadway performers about their roles and their lives. Popcorn on Twitter: http://abcn.ws/2gGYRiD Popcorn on Facebook: http://abcn.ws/2f3iHDw Popcorn on YouTube: http://abcn.ws/2gyswtx Popcorn on Instagram: http://abcn.ws/2fC0Ak2

The Cork business league is not your typical league, and in a way, that's what makes it great. The league itself is open to businesses in Cork to join. It promotes positive mental health by means of getting people out of the office and onto the pitch. A good work/life balance is beneficial to your mental health and the Cork business league is a resource the people of Cork have to improve theirs. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're traveling at hyperspace through these Death Star Diaries and have already made it to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story!We've been away from each other for a while so we start this episode out by catching up while Rob's on the road and chat about the last movie we've seen, what we're Netflix-ing and our most recent delectable meals. Adam Chance has been rocking out the Star Wars from the very beginning and we thought it would be fun to bring another Star Wars fanatic into the DSD, fellow Home Free member/co-founder, Adam Rupp! The nerd is strong with these two and it's fun to hear their love for this subject. We end this episode with a super fun version of The Imitation Game and our Patrons get to hear us duke it out during our Best Space Films Draft!We hope you enjoy Rogue One: A Star Wars Story!1:45 Joker7:00 Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead9:00 The Good Place Season 310:07 Boulder Tap House www.bouldertaphouse.com11:30 Pecan Lodge www.pecanlodge.com12:30 High and Tight Barbershop www.highandtightbarber.com13:30 Plugarooni's 14:05 Patreon.com/theavidindoorsmen 16:07 @TheAdamChance and @AdamHFBeatbox17:05 twitch.tv/theadamchance; homefreemusic.com/tour 17:42 Rogue One Plot Synopsis18:23 Rotten Tomatoes19:02 David Sexton from The London Evening Standard20:09 Peter Travers from Rolling Stone20:25 Buegs' Hot Take22:28 Rob's Hot Take24:08 Chance's Hot Take26:51 Adam's Hot Take31:50 The Dude Award36:46 The Tucci Award44:37 Best Use Of Force Powers48:05 The Dingus Award50:32 Don't Stop Me Now Darth Vader https://youtu.be/F19hsXoBdw053:55 The Johnny Williams Memorial Award57:52 Show Me The Money 1:03:38 The Vader Sessions https://youtu.be/6A0rwG39Jzk1:05:19 Buegs' Boo Hoo Moments1:08:33 Movie Trivia1:22:00 The Imitation Game1:33:38 Top 5 Best Space Films Draftwww.patreon.com/theavidindoorsmen www.theavidindoorsmen.comwww.facebook.com/theavidindoorsmen Twitter: @AvidIndoorzmenInstagram: @TheAvidIndoorsmen

Actor/singer Ben Platt is in studio with Peter Travers. Platt talks about getting his big break in the business at the age of nine and looks back on his amazing roles in 'Book of Mormon' and 'Dear Evan Hansen'. Check out our other podcasts: http://bit.ly/2eBJMNa * ABOUT PETER TRAVERS: Peter Travers an American film critic, author and journalist. For some 25 years, Travers has written for Rolling Stone. He personally screens nearly 400 movies per year and releases weekly reviews. Travers is the nation's most blurbed film critic, according to eFilmCritic.com. Travers is also host of ABC's "Popcorn With Peter Travers," where he interviews actors, directors and Broadway performers about their roles and their lives. Popcorn on Twitter: http://abcn.ws/2gGYRiD Popcorn on Facebook: http://abcn.ws/2f3iHDw Popcorn on YouTube: http://abcn.ws/2gyswtx Popcorn on Instagram: http://abcn.ws/2fC0Ak2

Peter Travers says Antonio Banderas gives the performance of his career in his new film "Pain and Glory." In this episode of 'Popcorn', Banderas joins Travers in studio and talks about digging deep to take on the life of director Pedro Almod

Kevin Smith has reunited with the cast of one of his first films. The actor/director is in studio with Peter Travers to talk about the "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot." Check out our other podcasts: http://bit.ly/2eBJMNa * ABOUT PETER TRAVERS: Peter Travers an American film critic, author and journalist. For some 25 years, Travers has written for Rolling Stone. He personally screens nearly 400 movies per year and releases weekly reviews. Travers is the nation's most blurbed film critic, according to eFilmCritic.com. Travers is also host of ABC's "Popcorn With Peter Travers," where he interviews actors, directors and Broadway performers about their roles and their lives. Popcorn on Twitter: http://abcn.ws/2gGYRiD Popcorn on Facebook: http://abcn.ws/2f3iHDw Popcorn on YouTube: http://abcn.ws/2gyswtx Popcorn on Instagram: http://abcn.ws/2fC0Ak2

Analog Jones starts it's TarantinOctober with its True Romance (1993) VHS Movie Review Quick Facts Release Date: September 10, 1993Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and Roger AveryProducers: Samuel Hadida, Bill Unger, Gary Barber, Steve Perry, James W. SkotchdopoleDirected by Tony ScottProduced by A Band Apart and Morgan Creek EntertainmentBudget: $12.5 MillionBox Office: $12.3 MillionStarringChristian SlaterPatricia Arquette Dennis HopperVal KilmerGary OldmanBrad PittChristopher WalkenVHS Box Description "Dynamite! A full-throttle blast of action and fireworks." –Peter Travers, Rolling Stone True Romance is the story of two unlikely lovers (Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette) whose whirlwind romance propels them into a dangerous game of high-stakes negotiations and high-speed adventure. The pair find themselves in unexpected possession of a suitcase full valuable mob contraband, which they plan to sell the goods and begin a new life, but the gangsters - and the police - have other ideas.  Written by Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), True Romance takes a hip and hard-edged look at a contemporary incarnation of the American Dream. Tony Scott (Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout) directs an outstanding cast in an explosive mix of razor-sharp wit, gritty action and modern love that is truly unforgettable film experience.  TrailersWarner Bros Century Collection How to find Analog JonesDiscuss these movies and more on our Facebook page. You can also listen to us on iTunes, Podbean, and Youtube! Email us at analogjonestof@gmail.com with any comments or questions!