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Loved the review of the experience, GS. 
This section makes me think you've not seen the original Fame before. Have you?
This section makes me think you've not seen the original Fame before. Have you?
In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's Reviews
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Indeed they do. You'd have been much more familiar with the water pistols if you had have.
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5-time MoFo Award winner.
5-time MoFo Award winner.
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Indeed they do. You'd have been much more familiar with the water pistols if you had have.
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Originally Posted by The Gunslinger45
To enjoy the film at home is great, but the real way to see this film is at the theater. You won’t get this experience at home watching it on Netflix.
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I beg to differ. I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show in a movie theater at one of these parties/church services/whatever you wanna call it, and I thought it was the worst time I ever "watched" the movie. At home is where it's at.
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To each there own. I had a blast though.
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Well, I mean, every place is different. Mine just seemed lame to me. It was a long time ago. 2002 or 2003.
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Well it would be reasonable to say the kind of crowd you have is a big part of whether it is a plus or a negative.
There are different audience lines in different parts of the country too. I used to go to a movie theater on Long Island, but when I saw the movie in Albany, NY, most of the audience lines were completely different. It was a very different experience.
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GB is a Rocky Horror Picture Show groupie?
Nope.
Actually, I hate the movie, but I've seen it well over 100 times, and I can understand why other people like it.
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Nope.
Actually, I hate the movie, but I've seen it well over 100 times, and I can understand why other people like it.
Actually, I hate the movie, but I've seen it well over 100 times, and I can understand why other people like it.
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You don't hate a movie and watch it over 100 times. Trust me -- I know how to hate a movie and I don't wanna watch it twice! (The Big Lebowski)
You do when you're in college, and literally all of your friends go to the movie every Friday and Saturday night, and your choices are either go to the sucky movie, (and the diner afterwards), or stay home alone and study.
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loved your Terminator rant GS, and I can perfectly well see why you got mad! I liked Arnie in it tho, he's great 
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Glad to hear they're reviving the theater experience of seeing Rocky Horror. And a theater that SUPPLIED props?!? Wow!
Back in the late eighties they were curtailing their use because of the heavy clean up afterwards. Glad they're getting back to that
Along with a lot of the "shout outs" from the crowd during dialogue. There's so many.
One i remember is for Frankie as he's inviting everyone upstairs, you yell out, "Hey Frankie, what's your favorite low calorie, high protein drink?" before he says, "Come,"
You also, do realize, being your first time, there should have been people calling you "Virgin!" loudly and pointing; and now, when you go to your second showing, you'll be "Into heavy petting". Don't think there's any levels after that
Back in the late eighties they were curtailing their use because of the heavy clean up afterwards. Glad they're getting back to that
Along with a lot of the "shout outs" from the crowd during dialogue. There's so many.
One i remember is for Frankie as he's inviting everyone upstairs, you yell out, "Hey Frankie, what's your favorite low calorie, high protein drink?" before he says, "Come,"
You also, do realize, being your first time, there should have been people calling you "Virgin!" loudly and pointing; and now, when you go to your second showing, you'll be "Into heavy petting". Don't think there's any levels after that
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Back in the late 80's and early 90's, I used to steal the work van from the airport, pick up all my friends, get drunk, and see the midnight show in Harvard Square. I haven't been in years, but it's still playing in the same place. It was always Harvard students acting out the scenes and it was a great time. We brought are own props at first until it was stopped, but then we still did the dances and shouted all the lines. It's something everyone should do at least once.
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It took a little while to read through all the reviews I missed during my absence, but it was well worth it. I especially enjoyed your review for Jurassic World, which made me laugh out loud on three or four occasions.
Congratulations on finishing Kurosawa. I imagine that's pretty bittersweet. I've only seen 9 of his films so far, so I've still got plenty of good stuff ahead of me. From the three you reviewed, Dersu Uzala is the one I'm most looking forward to.
I can barely stand to sit through the trailer for San Andreas. It looks terrible. I can do disaster movies if it's aliens or giant monsters doing the destruction, but I usually hate natural disaster movies like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow. I'm a little surprised to read just how much you hated Terminator: Genisys. Not that I expected it to be very good. Terminator 2 is really the only movie in the series that I love. I'll probably rent Ted 2 when it becomes available. I thought the first one had its share of funny moments.
I'm a big Stephen King fan and The Shining is one of my all-time favorite books. I relate very strongly to some of the themes in the book. I even wrote a 10-page paper on it in high school. Kubrick transplants the setting and some of the iconic scares into the film -- most notably the woman in the bathtub -- but he omits everything else that made the book so special. Because of that, it took me a couple of viewings to really begin to appreciate Kubrick's vision on its own. Now it's one of my favorite horror movies. And if I haven't said it before, I'm totally jealous that you get to see all these iconic films on the big screen.
Every time I read about people watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live audience, it just doesn't sound like much fun to me. I'm not sure that's my scene. I'd like to give it a shot one day if I get the chance, but something tells me I'll end up hating everyone in the theater. I enjoy The Rocky Horror Picture Show just fine in the comfort of my own home.
I'm making it my mission to explore exploitation films more fully. I watched Thriller: A Cruel Picture after seeing your five-star rating for it. I liked it quite a bit, although I'd rate it a couple of popcorn boxes lower than you. I think it perfectly embodies both the strengths and weaknesses of exploitation cinema. Surprisingly, I thought the revenge portion of the film was actually the weakest part. That's probably because of that stupid SUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPEEEEEERRRRRRRRR SSSSSLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW-MMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that is repeated ad nauseam. I swear I spent fifteen freaking minutes just waiting for that one jackass to fall to the ground. If the director wanted to show off his super slow-mo technique, he should've saved it for the hardcore sex scenes.
I started writing a response to JD's review of Mad Max: Fury Road, but in no time I was up to five long paragraphs with seemingly no end in sight, so instead of trying to wrestle my thoughts into a more coherent structure, I just gave up and deleted what I had written. Let's just say that my opinion of the film is much closer to yours than his. I think it's an amazing, exhilarating, breathtaking film. I'm actually brand new to the series -- I watched the original trilogy for the first time in the days leading up to Fury Road's release. (I liked Mad Max, loved The Road Warrior, and thought Beyond Thunderdome was pretty lame.) Some of the complaints toward Fury Road seem to stem from people who are big fans of the original trilogy and had their own preconceptions about what the new movie should be, so they take offense to Furiosa being just as prominent in the film as Max. The whole "feminist agenda" thing is silly to me. Apparently any film that features strong female characters nowadays is automatically a feminist movie. I don't care about any of that. I simply found Fury Road to be one of the most balls-to-the-wall action movies I've ever seen.
People criticize the story and the character development, but I think those elements should be celebrated. Compare Fury Road to Jurassic World, for instance: I liked Jurassic World (although not as much as you), but it wastes too much time on the same ol' boring family drama crap with the aunt not spending time with her nephews, the brothers bickering, talk of divorce, blah, blah, blah, along with a bunch of familiar exposition about not interfering with nature. Everyone in the audience already knows that the big, scary, genetically modified dinosaur is going to escape, so why delay the inevitable? So many of these movies can't seem to walk and chew gum at the same time. They think they have to start slow, introduce the characters, set up the story, THEN finally deliver the popcorn thrills people have paid to see. That's the structure all blockbusters must adhere to, yet most of them, just like Jurassic World, do a poor job of everything but the thrills. (The dinosaur showdown at the end of Jurassic World, by the way? Awesome.) Mad Max: Fury Road is pure rock n' roll, though. It says f**k that pre-established structure *****. It doesn't waste our time with a bunch of boring exposition. It doesn't fiddle its thumbs while characters tell the audience about their life histories in an effort to "flesh them out." It doesn't force some stupid love angle into the plot. Instead it hits the ground running, slamming the gas pedal to the floor and not letting up for two straight hours of glorious, edge-of-your-seat, action-packed, vehicular carnage. What a lovely day, indeed!
Here's the thing, though: I don't think those other elements suffer as a result. We know all that we need to know about these characters. We know all that we need to know about this world. Instead of running down the checklist one-by-one like every other summer blockbuster, Fury Road mashes everything together, proving that it's possible to breathe life into characters while simultaneously delivering heart-pounding action. In that sense, I think Fury Road is a trailblazer. I want to see other blockbusters follow its lead. You don't have to do A, then B, then C -- you can do them all at once! I never felt like the characters were flat. I never felt like the post apocalyptic world was poorly realized. Fury Road's approach reminds me very much of Hemingway's iceberg-theory writing style. I hear people complain sometimes that Hemingway's stories lack this, this and this, but that's just because they're used to writers spelling everything out for them. What they're searching for in Hemingway is in-between the words. It's the same way with Fury Road. Everything is there, but it's implied in the performances and the direction. But people aren't accustomed to that. They expect George Miller to tell them everything to their face. As for the story, it's an action movie. In action, we don't need no stinkin' fancy plots! Look at The Raid. The premise is basically, "Hey, check out this really tall building! Let's see if we can get to the top floor!" Yet it's one of the best action movies of the 2000's. Fury Road is as simple as it gets: drive really fast in one direction, then turn around and drive back. I think it's a testament to Miller's direction and the stunt work and the awe-inspiring practical effects that it manages to remain so exciting from start to finish. Instead of building up to a climax like in a normal movie, we get an entire film that's a climax. The first fifteen minutes alone are more exhilarating and impressive than entire films I've seen, yet Fury Road keeps finding new ways to top itself. I think it's an audacious, inspiring work of art and one of the greatest action movies ever made.
Anyways, sorry for jizzing myself in your thread. Since I was taking a break from the forum when the movie came out, I haven't had any outlet to express my passion for it until now.
Congratulations on finishing Kurosawa. I imagine that's pretty bittersweet. I've only seen 9 of his films so far, so I've still got plenty of good stuff ahead of me. From the three you reviewed, Dersu Uzala is the one I'm most looking forward to.
I can barely stand to sit through the trailer for San Andreas. It looks terrible. I can do disaster movies if it's aliens or giant monsters doing the destruction, but I usually hate natural disaster movies like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow. I'm a little surprised to read just how much you hated Terminator: Genisys. Not that I expected it to be very good. Terminator 2 is really the only movie in the series that I love. I'll probably rent Ted 2 when it becomes available. I thought the first one had its share of funny moments.
I'm a big Stephen King fan and The Shining is one of my all-time favorite books. I relate very strongly to some of the themes in the book. I even wrote a 10-page paper on it in high school. Kubrick transplants the setting and some of the iconic scares into the film -- most notably the woman in the bathtub -- but he omits everything else that made the book so special. Because of that, it took me a couple of viewings to really begin to appreciate Kubrick's vision on its own. Now it's one of my favorite horror movies. And if I haven't said it before, I'm totally jealous that you get to see all these iconic films on the big screen.
Every time I read about people watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live audience, it just doesn't sound like much fun to me. I'm not sure that's my scene. I'd like to give it a shot one day if I get the chance, but something tells me I'll end up hating everyone in the theater. I enjoy The Rocky Horror Picture Show just fine in the comfort of my own home.
I'm making it my mission to explore exploitation films more fully. I watched Thriller: A Cruel Picture after seeing your five-star rating for it. I liked it quite a bit, although I'd rate it a couple of popcorn boxes lower than you. I think it perfectly embodies both the strengths and weaknesses of exploitation cinema. Surprisingly, I thought the revenge portion of the film was actually the weakest part. That's probably because of that stupid SUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPEEEEEERRRRRRRRR SSSSSLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW-MMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that is repeated ad nauseam. I swear I spent fifteen freaking minutes just waiting for that one jackass to fall to the ground. If the director wanted to show off his super slow-mo technique, he should've saved it for the hardcore sex scenes.
I started writing a response to JD's review of Mad Max: Fury Road, but in no time I was up to five long paragraphs with seemingly no end in sight, so instead of trying to wrestle my thoughts into a more coherent structure, I just gave up and deleted what I had written. Let's just say that my opinion of the film is much closer to yours than his. I think it's an amazing, exhilarating, breathtaking film. I'm actually brand new to the series -- I watched the original trilogy for the first time in the days leading up to Fury Road's release. (I liked Mad Max, loved The Road Warrior, and thought Beyond Thunderdome was pretty lame.) Some of the complaints toward Fury Road seem to stem from people who are big fans of the original trilogy and had their own preconceptions about what the new movie should be, so they take offense to Furiosa being just as prominent in the film as Max. The whole "feminist agenda" thing is silly to me. Apparently any film that features strong female characters nowadays is automatically a feminist movie. I don't care about any of that. I simply found Fury Road to be one of the most balls-to-the-wall action movies I've ever seen.
People criticize the story and the character development, but I think those elements should be celebrated. Compare Fury Road to Jurassic World, for instance: I liked Jurassic World (although not as much as you), but it wastes too much time on the same ol' boring family drama crap with the aunt not spending time with her nephews, the brothers bickering, talk of divorce, blah, blah, blah, along with a bunch of familiar exposition about not interfering with nature. Everyone in the audience already knows that the big, scary, genetically modified dinosaur is going to escape, so why delay the inevitable? So many of these movies can't seem to walk and chew gum at the same time. They think they have to start slow, introduce the characters, set up the story, THEN finally deliver the popcorn thrills people have paid to see. That's the structure all blockbusters must adhere to, yet most of them, just like Jurassic World, do a poor job of everything but the thrills. (The dinosaur showdown at the end of Jurassic World, by the way? Awesome.) Mad Max: Fury Road is pure rock n' roll, though. It says f**k that pre-established structure *****. It doesn't waste our time with a bunch of boring exposition. It doesn't fiddle its thumbs while characters tell the audience about their life histories in an effort to "flesh them out." It doesn't force some stupid love angle into the plot. Instead it hits the ground running, slamming the gas pedal to the floor and not letting up for two straight hours of glorious, edge-of-your-seat, action-packed, vehicular carnage. What a lovely day, indeed!
Here's the thing, though: I don't think those other elements suffer as a result. We know all that we need to know about these characters. We know all that we need to know about this world. Instead of running down the checklist one-by-one like every other summer blockbuster, Fury Road mashes everything together, proving that it's possible to breathe life into characters while simultaneously delivering heart-pounding action. In that sense, I think Fury Road is a trailblazer. I want to see other blockbusters follow its lead. You don't have to do A, then B, then C -- you can do them all at once! I never felt like the characters were flat. I never felt like the post apocalyptic world was poorly realized. Fury Road's approach reminds me very much of Hemingway's iceberg-theory writing style. I hear people complain sometimes that Hemingway's stories lack this, this and this, but that's just because they're used to writers spelling everything out for them. What they're searching for in Hemingway is in-between the words. It's the same way with Fury Road. Everything is there, but it's implied in the performances and the direction. But people aren't accustomed to that. They expect George Miller to tell them everything to their face. As for the story, it's an action movie. In action, we don't need no stinkin' fancy plots! Look at The Raid. The premise is basically, "Hey, check out this really tall building! Let's see if we can get to the top floor!" Yet it's one of the best action movies of the 2000's. Fury Road is as simple as it gets: drive really fast in one direction, then turn around and drive back. I think it's a testament to Miller's direction and the stunt work and the awe-inspiring practical effects that it manages to remain so exciting from start to finish. Instead of building up to a climax like in a normal movie, we get an entire film that's a climax. The first fifteen minutes alone are more exhilarating and impressive than entire films I've seen, yet Fury Road keeps finding new ways to top itself. I think it's an audacious, inspiring work of art and one of the greatest action movies ever made.
Anyways, sorry for jizzing myself in your thread. Since I was taking a break from the forum when the movie came out, I haven't had any outlet to express my passion for it until now.
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