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Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing a feature that reconsiders a film I love — the Michael Keaton/Terri Garr comedy MR. MOM (1983) — on its fortieth anniversary. I even got producer Lauren Shuler Donner to sit down with me to discuss its conception, production, reception, and legacy today. You’ll have to wait for the article to read my case for this — which you can do so here since this question was original published — but I believe it’s an incredibly feminist film that we misremember today as some kind of cinematic gag regarding stay-at-home dads. This isn’t the first time I’ve reframed a film at 5AM StoryTalk either. Most recently I did it with EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and, earlier this year, THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM. This got me thinking:
What other films deserve to be reconsidered from new points of view?
Meaning, films that we talk about one way today that, in your opinion, is the wrong way. Tell me what they are and what we’ve gotten wrong about them over the years.
Here, I’ll start: GREASE 2 (1982). I know GREASE (1978) is an objectively better film than its sequel, but:
1) I love 2/3 of the songs in GREASE 2 as much as or more so than the same percentage of songs in GREASE, which is remarkable given how nobody ever talks about GREASE 2.
2) GREASE 2 is 1,000% less rapey than the original, and, in fact, is loudly feminist throughout (which might have something to do with the fact that a woman directed it).
You know, I've been meaning to rewatch BLADE RUNNER *with* the voiceover for a while now. Maybe I have to give that a go.
I couldn't agree more about BLADE. Maybe that hasn't gotten its due, in this regard, because it didn't *feel* like a comic book movie as X-MEN did?
THE CRANES ARE FLYING...I love this film. I've shared it often on social media, as it's available on YouTube for free. THIS TRACKING SHOT! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9ceWpqyMk
Well, I've already written about Shyamalan's "Signs".
I would add:
- Park Chan Wook's third and latest films, "Joint Security Area" and "Permission to leave".
- Johnnie To noir movies of the late 90s/early 00s: A Hero Never Dies, The Mission, and even The Longest Nite (after many years he admitted he was the main director, not Patrick Yau), PTU, Breaking News and Exiled (Election was premiered at Cannes, so I guess it got a modicum of visibility).
- Takashi Miike has directed more movies than humanly possible, and I fear the usual titles in his production come out in the conversation, like Audition and Ichi the Killer, but I'd like to remind gems like Visitor Q, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Gozu, Zebraman and Crows Zero.
- Anime-wise, I'm not sure Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness and Mamoru Oshii's Tenshi no Tamago receive the praise they deserve. Plus, all of Satoshi Kon movies (at least Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Paprika) should be religiously watched by everybody (at least because Perfect Blue "heavily influenced" Aronofksy's Black Swan and Nolan... uh, "took" entire sequences from Paprika in Inception).
Working my way up to SIGNS. That one ticks a lot of boxes for audiences/readers.
I'm horrified by how many of these films I haven't seen. Park and Miike's films, yes, but the others are a bit of a mystery to me. I've written several of these titles down -- grazie mille!
I tend to look at the US theatrical cut of Blade Runner WITH the voice over... for one single line. When Bryant is introduced.
Wesley Snipes’ 1st Blade kicked off the Marvel Comics craze, not Bryan Singer’s X-men.
The Stallone vehicle, Night Hawks.
The Cranes Are Flying (1957) I know Spielberg watched this a dozen times.
You know, I've been meaning to rewatch BLADE RUNNER *with* the voiceover for a while now. Maybe I have to give that a go.
I couldn't agree more about BLADE. Maybe that hasn't gotten its due, in this regard, because it didn't *feel* like a comic book movie as X-MEN did?
THE CRANES ARE FLYING...I love this film. I've shared it often on social media, as it's available on YouTube for free. THIS TRACKING SHOT! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9ceWpqyMk
Well, I've already written about Shyamalan's "Signs".
I would add:
- Park Chan Wook's third and latest films, "Joint Security Area" and "Permission to leave".
- Johnnie To noir movies of the late 90s/early 00s: A Hero Never Dies, The Mission, and even The Longest Nite (after many years he admitted he was the main director, not Patrick Yau), PTU, Breaking News and Exiled (Election was premiered at Cannes, so I guess it got a modicum of visibility).
- Takashi Miike has directed more movies than humanly possible, and I fear the usual titles in his production come out in the conversation, like Audition and Ichi the Killer, but I'd like to remind gems like Visitor Q, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Gozu, Zebraman and Crows Zero.
- Anime-wise, I'm not sure Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness and Mamoru Oshii's Tenshi no Tamago receive the praise they deserve. Plus, all of Satoshi Kon movies (at least Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Paprika) should be religiously watched by everybody (at least because Perfect Blue "heavily influenced" Aronofksy's Black Swan and Nolan... uh, "took" entire sequences from Paprika in Inception).
Working my way up to SIGNS. That one ticks a lot of boxes for audiences/readers.
I'm horrified by how many of these films I haven't seen. Park and Miike's films, yes, but the others are a bit of a mystery to me. I've written several of these titles down -- grazie mille!