TMT: Two of Us on the Eve
This is the next entry in a Theatre… a Movie… and a Time series that was begun here. Since I am continuing my Versus AFI: 10 Top 10 arc, this time looking at the Fantasy genre, it was only fitting I’d chronicle another of them in this series. Sometimes, triangulating, or even estimating, a date when such a movie experience occurred is the hardest aspect to achieve in these posts. This, however, was one of the easiest.
“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”
Theatre
Images c/o Cinema Treasures site
Movie
Time
December 31, 2002: honestly, my wife did not know what a single movie started the year before. The only one between the two of us to have read J.R.R. Tolkien‘s three volumes of his Lord of the Rings saga (along with The Hobbit), she alone had an idea what would be translated on to the big screen. I did not. Even she got caught up with the epic fantasy tale all over again in December of 2001 when we saw The Fellowship of the Ring on one of our now infrequent movie dates. She hadn’t realized a pattern had been set in motion. Silly rabbit.
Back then, with a seven and three year-old at home, making arrangements for a parents movie-night out was an exercise in coordination, even under normal circumstances. Tying it to a weeknight (it was a Tuesday) and the New Year’s Eve holiday (did I mention we saw the first LOTR on the last day of the year? No?) made it that much more of a challenge. But, I was not to be deterred, even if my lovely spouse told me we did not have to see the second installment exactly on the identical day, or at the very same theater complex, once more.
Men and women sure think differently. I am nothing if not a stickler for tradition (indeed, not if I’m making it up as I go along). Returning to The Bridge Cinema de Lux (today now owned and run by the RAVE theater chain) was a given in my estimation. With the sitter arranged and booked (by me), off we went for the early evening screening of The Two Towers. Still, there was no way she-who-must-be-obeyed would not have us back to the house later than 10 PM, especially with ‘Eve’ revelers all about. You see, there is a limit she will tolerate from the film fanatic she married. Naturally, I made sure we’d be back to this same spot one year later.
The entire series can be found here. If you’re interested how it’s put together, click here.
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Versus AFI: 10 Top 10 – Fantasy
Previous: Sci-Fi
[Note: I moved this post up from its regular 13th publication date because that lands on Mother's Day this month.]
This is the continuation of a series I began in January of this year that examines and remarks on The American Film Institute and its recent propensity to create Top 10 lists. Specifically, the organization’s need to gather publicity by documenting their celebration of cinema’s centennial via a series of TV specials. Each time, the AFI went about giving importance to a set of motion pictures based on criteria and judgments their groups of ‘experts’ determined. It has generated opinions among fans and film aficionados ever since in varying degrees of disagreement. If you’re unaware, the AFI is a non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts back in the 60s. One of its main charters is the preservation of American film legacy. As they put it,
“Each special honors a different aspect of excellence in American film.”
Unquestionably, their prime purpose was to get people talking about film. So be it. This series on AFI’s Top 10s (out of their 100s lists) for 2012 is my motivated response to compare their picks with a moviegoer (me) per each of their indexes. Naturally, I’m fully aware that readers’ mileage may vary (indeed, we know they will) when it comes to these selections. Fair enough. Either way, it’s going to be painful as picking one above the other always is in such endeavors. You’re invited to add your own and/or disagree all you want in the comments or your blog site (all I ask is that you leave a link so we, the readers, can peruse). Shall we continue?
Fantasy
AFI defines “fantasy” as a genre where live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world.
- The Wizard of Oz
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- King Kong
- Miracle on 34th Street
- Field of Dreams
- Harvey
- Groundhog Day
- The Thief of Bagdad
- Big Read more
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Same Song, Different Movie: Street Life by Will Jennings & Joe Sample
Continuing my thoughts from last February regarding the use of song in film, I’ll reiterate some that I’ve previously said. “Needle dropped” tunes are not considered part of a film score — those orchestral, choral, or instrumental pieces some consider background music. Still, I truly believe those established songs and specially written pieces are utilized as potent cues by filmmakers to elicit certain reactions by the audience. I’m fascinated by this in general, and movie soundtracks have specifically intrigued me. They represent a convergence of the music and film arts I’ve allocated much time toward (my wife can back me up on that regard 
). Some movie soundtracks have incorporated songs the director or music programmer have showcased in their movie along with the film’s score.
A few filmmakers have made it part of their filmography to incorporate popular song as a regular element in their work. Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann and others do this very well. Hell, Tarantino has been known to throw in dialogue from the actual motion picture as a track for the listener to relive. So, I’ve claimed this use of music, whether others like it or not, is very much a part of the movie experience and related to its composition. It is something I continue to watch out and listen for it in my movie viewing. Giving credit where it is due, I never would have started anything like this series if not for my blogging colleague over at Fog’s Movie Review. It was his excellent, Tossin’ It Out There: What’s YOUR Favorite Song From a Movie?, that kicked it all off:
“… there’s a deep connection between the two arts, and sometimes that winds up creating an inseparable bond between the two in the viewer’s mind.”
Once more, I’ve selected a song used in more than one movie. This particular piece featured one stellar and breakthrough jazz vocal. While it would make inroads onto Billboard’s Top 100 for popular song (reached #36) that year, the track simultaneously climbed up Jazz (stayed at the top for an incredible 20 weeks), R&B (hit as high as #17), and even Disco (#75) charts after its source album was released in 1979. Back then, those of us into jazz fusion were introduced to its original 11:18 cut on FM stations known to play long album takes. The tune would power us “decade survivors” out of the 70s as only it could.
Sharky’s Machine (1981)
The Crusaders‘ guest vocalist, Randy Crawford, on that very LP would make her soulful, memorable entrance into U.S. listeners ears and hearts with this song’s first few emotive lyrics. It is the one and only Street Life, lyrics and music by Will Jennings and Joe Sample. As upbeat and exuberant as the tune comes across, with its vibrant vocal and jazz/funk arrangement, the lyrics are essentially quite downcast. The ‘street life’ it professes is one of loneliness, drugs and prostitution. Director Burt Reynolds in his highly underrated and under appreciated film (at least in my opinion), Sharky’s Machine, employed the track in that sense. For the most part, Reynolds shows unforeseen skill as a filmmaker, here. His tracking shot at the start of the thriller is particularly deft (and observe he’ll reverse it for the closing credits). That scene’s progression (right up to the director’s title credit) has a marvelous flow to it. It employed a refashioned take of that Crusaders song convincingly to set the mood for that entire sequence, with Ms. Crawford reprising her vocal in this version.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Given the credibility and reputation I’ve already laid out for director Quentin Tarantino, it shouldn’t surprise I’d have him in at least one of these articles. And Tarantino may have deployed this song even better in this, one of his more mature films from the 90s, Jackie Brown. Like Reynold’s film, it was adapted from an existing novel, one by Elmore Leonard (Burt’s was by William Diehl). As this film represents those on the other side of the thin blue line, Jennings’ lyrics come into more focus as the protagonist, beautifully portrayed by Pam Grier, is about to employ her gamble with the cops and her gun-runner employer, Ordell Robbie. Her risk to get herself out of ‘The Life’ is itself freeing for the character and it comes across effectively in the sequence. Again, Ms. Crawford’s vocal track, in yet another take with the song, brought that forth as no one else could.
Other Posts in the Series
- Same Song, Different Movie: Ready, Steady, Go by Paul Oakenfold
- Same Song, Different Movie: Vide Cor Meum by Patrick Cassidy
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TMT: “Your suggested arrival time is 1 hour before the movie.”
This is the next entry in a Theatre… a Movie… and a Time series that was begun here. Last year, I did one of these for a TMT entry within days of a certain film screening. A recent gathering of die-hard fans for a specific film seemed to call for another of this ‘fresh’ variety. BTW, the odd title for this specific memory post comes from a line on the guide sheet I was given for my latest bit of cinematic-husband-craziness. May I have a drumroll for my wife’s lovely eye roll, please?
Thor: “He’s my brother…”
Natasha Romanoff: “He killed 80 people in 2 days.”
Thor: “… He’s adopted.”
Theatre
The El Capitan Theatre:
Images c/o Cinema Treasures site
Movie
Time
May 4, 2012: a couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law (visiting at the time) mentioned that the law enforcement agency she works for was offering tickets to employees and their friends/family to see the inaugural blockbuster of the summer movie season, The Avengers, on opening day. “Are you going?”, we asked. “Please,”, she responded, “who is crazy enough to get up at o’dark-thirty to catch a movie? The special screening is at 4 AM!” Let the record show that my wife just pointed. Then, they both looked over my way.
What could I say? “Yeah, I’d go.“, came my reply. I mean, given that this highly anticipated movie was going to happen at the El Capitan Theatre, right across the street from the ‘Chapter 11′ Kodak Theater and its famed neighbor venue, why wouldn’t I? Needless to say, I bought two tickets. Disney’s premium movie hall on Hollywood Blvd. is well-known in these parts:
“In 1991, the former Paramount Theater was reopened by Disney and Pacific Theaters following a glorious restoration of this Hollywood gem situated across the street from Mann’s Chinese. As the flagship theater of the Disney Studio empire, it is part of the Pacific Theaters circuit of which Disney owns a large stake.
Every major animated release from Walt Disney Pictures Animation premieres here complete with a live stage show and more. The theater was the first in the United States to announce an online movie ticketing and printing system.”
This boisterous and brimming screening followed the equally packed 12:01 AM showing, believe it or not. I saw those patrons heading back to their cars as I arrived, and I got there just before 3 AM (having dragged myself out of bed at 2 AM to get myself ready). I was in line (yes, there were plenty of folk already there) by 3:05 AM. The father of my daughter’s schoolmate, another one unafraid of wifely ridicule, joined me, in fact. We were greeted and entertained as only Disney can in a place like this. How was the movie, you ask? I think my blogging colleagues over at Radiator Heaven and The Focus Filmographer nailed both of our giddy opinions and reactions with their reviews, found here and here. Needless to say, I got to work fairly early that day.
The entire series can be found here.
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Friday Forgotten Song: Kyrie by Mr. Mister
Recently, author Joseph Maddrey concluded a wonderful set of articles with his final entry of a quite splendid southwestern trip he undertook and cataloged. His Four Corners Tour series looked, both pictorially and historically, at some decidedly beautiful locations in that region (a number of which were utilized in some classic and iconic films). It a worthy piece of writing and I highly recommend it to my readers. What was almost as interesting was his inclusion at article’s end of a memorable music video from the distinct period of big hair and padded shoulders that was the 80s. Mike and the Mechanics’ Silent Running being that song. Likewise, Joe nailed the catchy nature of that track with his reply to my comment on how well he concluded his series so stylishly:
“Mark my words: That song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day!”
So true. While I’m older, and thus shaped musically by the earlier decades of the 60s and 70s, I never will be immune to the unmistakable tunes of that period (as my blogging colleague Sci-Fi Fanatic knows only too well). Too much happened, both in the country and personally. Given the vagaries of the universe, I’ve tilted back toward the 80s of late. Just last Saturday, the good folk over at Warner Archive started carrying (by way of the MGM Limited Collection) the rare Sho Kosugi Ninja classic from that era, Pray for Death, in their online store. So I thought to end this week by trying to return the favor to my friends Joe and SFF alike with, hopefully, an equally definitive and haunting track from that same decade. I choose for this Kyrie by the quartet which was a “product of the L.A. session-musician community“ known as Mr. Mister.
Some things to keep in mind about this song, the second by Mr. Mister to hit #1 in the US (the first being “Broken Wings“), care of Songfacts: ”Kyrie Eleison” is Greek for “Lord, have mercy.” It is used as a prayer in both Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox services. Greek was the original language of the New Testament and it was later translated in to Latin. When this was a hit, very few people listening to Top 40 radio had any idea that they were singing “Lord Have Mercy, Down the Road that I must travel!” The religious significance was mostly lost (Jeff of Charleston, SC offered up that info). The group wrote this while they were on tour with Adam Ant, a year before they recorded it.
When the song debuted (by the way, only a month after Silent Running was released, Joe) in December 1985, my world to that point was undergoing its own seismic shift. The seeds that would break up my penultimate girlfriend of the time, she-whose-name-must-not-be-spoken, and I were well planted by then. Though it didn’t seem like it at the time, that ultimately was a good thing. Songs such as this made the segue somehow bearable. Still, this track, with its initially slow ramp up, manages to unleash a contagious high energy with good style. And it was a testament to that 80s fashion of rebounding back. Its steady drumbeat and keyboard rhythms, accompanied by strong electric guitar strums, along with its telltale vocals and tight chorus, brought out some of the best, or at least well-known, aspects of the infectious pop song-manship department for that musical epoch. I think it was just too hard not to bob your head or tap a toe when this one let loose.
This album was the high water mark for the group’s popularity in the 80s. Whether you buy into Kyrie‘s underlying religious tone or not, a certain breakthrough sci-fi film (one with its own underlying messianic bent) seemed to make that connection. Even if their eras were very different, why else the next decade over did the character of Morpheus greet the newly freed Neo, early on in The Matrix, with the title of the song’s source album as dialogue, “Welcome to the real world.”? Hmm… I wonder. Anyway, it’s a song that I don’t think should or hopefully won’t be forgotten anytime soon. No matter how, it embodied the decade, like Joe’s pick and those that Sci-fi Fanatic periodically highlights. So, gentlemen, make sure to you comb out that mullet just right, and please, be sure to turn up your collar when you give it a listen . A happy and tuneful weekend to you all.
The wind blows hard against this mountain side
Across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide
Setting my feet upon the roadMy heart is old it holds my memories
My baby burns agem like flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine
Is where I find myself again*CHORUS*
Kyrie Eleison
Down the road that I must travel
Kyrie Eleison
Through the darkness of the night
Kyrie Eleison
Where I’m going will you follow
Kyrie Eleison
On a highway in the lightWhen I was young I thought of growing old
Of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road
Or only wished what I could beOh…Oh…Oh
Oh…Oh…Oh
Oh…Oh…Oh
Oh…Oh…Oh(rinse and repeat to the end)
