Reply With QuoteHow do you deal with Werner Herzog, then? Here I'm thinking specifically of Lessons of Darkness.Originally Posted by Tom Chick
I don't even know what that is!
I've got to apologise Tom as I expressly used WHAS because you don't like it. I have become a troll.
Although, again, as a 90s Englishman, you can set anything in a previous decade of America and I'm all over it.
How do you deal with Werner Herzog, then? Here I'm thinking specifically of Lessons of Darkness.
Insomnia - Yeah, I know it's not Nolan's best work, but the midnight sun is so integral to the central character's state of mind, I had to throw it in (and, I guess because my son who's in the army was just posted to Alaska, it was on my mind).
Dazed and Confused for the beginning of summer, American Graffiti for the end of summer.
Third | I apparently became smitten with Diane Lane at the age of ten watching A Little Romance, but I have not watched it again since that time.
Second | Almost Famous always makes me think of summers when I was in college.
First | Dances with Wolves due to two factors, the transformation from the harshness of winter to the bounty of summer and the fact I spent many years up in the Dakota's when I was young over the summer.
I'm so happy you posted this. I was excited to include TFK when I got to thinking about the topic, but then I found out who directed it and despaired. I didn't have the opportunity to watch it during the week, like I usually try to do when I'm on the fence about a pick, but I have such fond memories of it from when it came out that I decided to include it anyway.
-xtien
I'm only bringing this up because it has been mentioned on two podcasts in a row (shudder).
I believe it was Tom who brought up the Affleck/Tyler smoochy scene in Armageddon and the use of animal crackers. Dingus mentioned he remembered it being sugar packets. I'm betting he was thinking of Days of Thunder.
Cruise used sugar packets on Nicole Kidman's leg to demonstrate some racing thing. About cars.
Just trying to help and not at all pointing out that Armageddon stole the schtick from Days of Thunder.
P.S. Based on the new trend the past two weeks, I can't wait for next week's Armageddocast.
Holy shit! You just totally snapped that into focus for me. I felt like I was in one of those dolly zoom shots as I read your post. Thank you for reminding me of that. Although I think I'm going to keep remembering it as sugar packets every time Tom brings it up, just to irk him.
Also, thanks for reminding me that I sat through Days of Thunder, and more than once since I recorded it during one of those "free Cinemax" weekends when I'd set the VCR to record everything. What do I mean everything? EVERYTHING! Ugh. That ridiculous sequence where Robert Duvall monologues to the car frame about what he's gonna do to it. I thought I'd left that behind for good. Along with the rental car showdown. And the fake police woman who finds the concealed weapon. (Shudder.)
I thank you, KentPDC!
-xtien
"I'm dropping the hammer!"
Senator, do you understand how rap works?
A lot of lame or meh directors shit out one great movie: Flamingo Kid, Spinal Tap, Transformers 3...
See, you think I'm going to respond, but I'm not.
-Tom
P.S. The female shuttle pilot in Armageddon is far far hotter than any actress in a Transformers movie. TRUE STORY!
P.P.S. If you had told me that Tom Stoppard or John Sayles were brought in to give the Armageddon script a once-over before the shooting script was locked into place, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.
P.P.P.S. I don't think they ever specify the time of year in Armageddon, which is a shame, since if it were summer, it would easily be one of the best uses of summer in a movie.
P.P.P.P.S. There is very nearly not a single line of wasted dialogue in Armageddon. You probably think I'm joking, but I'm not. It's some pretty muscular storytelling. There's a reason it's almost three hours long.
Maybe I'm over-romanticizing the topic, but here's mine. I don't get out much, so I only came up with two (which are basically the same movie -- right? but one has an ambiguously happy ending and the other an ambiguously sad ending).
Before Sunset
The Graduate
If I had three picks, My Girl would be a runner up. But I remember not really enjoying the movie much.
"I can't come out and play right now. Come back in three to five days."
Oh yeah! My Cousin Vinny. Of course. An adventure that just couldn't have happened during the school year.
I wouldn't call Princess Bride lame or meh.
Great picks above, especially Stand By Me, Dazed and Confused, and Do The Right Thing.
You guys touched on comparative climates in the podcast, someone said that every movie set in L.A. could be considered a summer movie. A few movies sprang to mind because of the heat of their settings. But they are only runners up. I don't know if Cool Hand Luke, O Brother Where Art Thou, Dune, or Lawrence of Arabia really count as summery movies just because the characters are always sweating and sometimes there's a lot of beach-like terrain. Likewise, the characters hanging out in Castaway, The Blue Lagoon or Island of Lost Souls don't really have to contend with axial tilt and they never have to find a winter parka. (Here's a related question for antipodean QT3ers: since December is in summer south of the equator, do holiday movies like "A Christmas Story" make you guys think of summer?)
3) Besides the heat, there's also a sense of transition, of impermanence, to summer. School or work will start up again in a few weeks, so make the most of your time off before you have to get back to the daily grind. Your community shrinks down to the family unit. In National Lampoon's Vacation the nuclear family, led by that guy from Community, piles into the car and sets off across the country looking for fun. There's some flirtation and death along the way, but the stakes aren't much higher than failing your family by not getting to Wally World.
2) Days Of Heaven. Heat + seasonal work + annoying bugs = the penultimate summer movie, bested only by:
1) A League of Their Own. Not only are Geena Davis and her team playing the most summery of sports, enduring high temperatures and bratty kids that would be better off in school, they're also playing during wartime. When it ends in the not-so-far-off future, they'll be back on the farms or factories or kitchens. Geena isn't even in the league for more than one summer. Congratulations if you're reading this, Penny Marshall: you've finally made it to my 3x3 pick.
I suppose it's a sign of how life changes. Years ago I, too, watched Days of Thunder more than once. Now there are movies I would like to watch more, but it's not going to happen.
I'll probably never be able to explain why, in the restaurant scene after the rental car showdown you mentioned, Tom Cruise managed to look so cool eating a bread stick with his mouth open.
How did they get those cars on the beach, anyway? I've never seen a ramp or anything inviting you to drive onto the beach for an impromptu race/demolition derby.
Stand By Me - I guess I'm old but this movie tapped right into my nostalgic memories of me and the guys just ambling around having adventures.
Maybe the sugar packet / animal crackers is a Jerry Bruckheimer thing?
So I listened to Tom defend Armageddon through the whole podcast, but his constant assertions that he wasn't kidding started to make me think that he was, in fact, kidding. The lady doth protest too much, etc.
But it could just be that he's so used to people not believing him when he says he likes it. Is it possible to have a conversation about the merits of Armageddon without people thinking you're trolling? I wonder :).
I don't love Armageddon. I certainly don't see what makes Armageddon better than other movies you might consider summer trash. Such as Avatar. But I don't hate it either. And I'm all about not feeling guilty for liking a movie that everyone else hates, no matter how mainstream it is. Obviously, because I like Avatar.
I, for one, would love to have a thread seriously discussing Armageddon. Other topics we could potentially cover:
- "Misanthropic/racist humour in the works of Michael Bay"
- "Using talented character actors in crappy summer blockbusters for fun and profit."
- "How is it possible that Ridley Scott wins Academy Awards, but can't direct action better than Michael Bay?"
Like water in the desert. Thank you Nick.
-xtien
P.S. I can't believe we didn't address the Avatar shout out in our discussion of The Watch last night. Shame on us.
Emphasis added for... emphasis.
Oh, that's a keeper! Anything that makes Affleck cry.
...or Stand By Me. You can argue that Rob Reiner has made a lot of lame movies, but it's hard to argue he's a one hit wonder.
I realize nowadays it's ok to call When Harry Met Sally a bad movie, but it wasn't.
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