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Joe Blevins 
"Don't I look handsome?"
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 Posted - 04/16/2010 : 01:39:29
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If you'll permit me a little self-promotion...
Together with movie blogger Craig J. Clark, I have been working on a series of articles for the Unloosen website in which we revisit various films from the 1980s and write about them. Generally, we touch on our own experience with these movies, how they hold up today, and what they say about the times in which they were made. Here are the films we've covered so far:
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Explorers
The Elephant Man
Spies Like Us
Back to the Future Part II
Superman III
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.
Upcoming articles will cover The Muppets Take Manhattan, Shock Treatment, and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension,, along with many, many more. I'm really proud of this series of articles, which are posted every other Thursday. (The next is coming up in a week.) I'd like to get our readership up, but I think the articles are turning out very well. If you get the chance, please check them out.
Thanks.
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ChocolateLady 
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 04/16/2010 : 11:46:33
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| Looks good. I'll take a look around. |
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randall 
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 04/16/2010 : 23:03:19
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| You can see a few of mine, including RAGING BULL, GHOSTBUSTERS, etc. here. |
Edited by - randall on 04/16/2010 23:04:41 |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 04/17/2010 : 01:33:19
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Looks good. I'll take a look around.
I'd be much obliged if you would. That list of articles is chronological, and I think they get better as they go along. For the first few weeks our choices were fairly scattershot, but now we've fallen into the pattern of choosing "themes" for each month. This month is "family movie" month, and we're looking at E.T. and Muppets Take Manhattan. Last month was "middle sequels" month, with BTTF 2 and Superman III. Next month, the theme will be "Cult on Arrival," a look at films which came into theaters as would-be cult movies. The films will be Shock Treatment and Buckaroo Banzai for that.
Overall, we're not focusing on the "best" or "worst" films of the decade, nor the most famous or the most obscure. We're just choosing notable films that may have received a lot of attention at the time but which are, for some reason, not the subject of much critical speculation today. |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 04/17/2010 : 01:33:54
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quote:
Originally posted by randall
You can see a few of mine, including RAGING BULL, GHOSTBUSTERS, etc. here.
Awesome. That book has caught my eye several times, and now I have the best of reasons to check it out. |
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Beanmimo 
"August review site"
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Posted - 04/17/2010 : 13:19:35
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Interesting Elephant man article I didn't know about the Mel Brooks connection al all, thanks. |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 04/17/2010 : 20:39:14
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You have to do a lot of backflips to justify the inane, tedious bullshit of Superman III. I will tell you that I find the "depressing," serious modern superhero movies a lot more compelling and, indeed, a lot more "fun" than Superman III. In fact, I think that the use of goofball slapstick is the downfall of the Reeve Superman films -- all of them. (Even my personal favorite, Superman II, which is an excellent movie.)
Then again, I will go to bat for Back to the Future Part II any day of the week, and I'm glad to see someone defend it (and put it in the category of the sequels to Gremlins and [i]Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, too, a connection which I can't believe I missed). |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 04/17/2010 : 22:12:46
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A few points here:
I don't exactly give Superman III an unqualified rave review. I say that it is "a mess" and call the Pryor storyline a "debacle." Not exactly quotes for the poster. But after 20 years of dark, gritty superhero movies where it's always either nighttime or overcast, it was a relief to my eyes to see some primary colors in a superhero flick for a change instead of the desaturated hues which are the legally-required norm today. The sight of an actual blue sky in a superhero movie qualifies as shocking in 2010. Look, I can appreciate that superhero fans take the characters seriously and want movies to do the same. But it's become so rote and so mandatory at this point that a film like Superman III can seem like an oasis in the desert. "Finally," I thought, "a superhero movie that doesn't look like a crystal meth PSA!" I'm not saying we should get rid of the dark, depressing new superhero flicks; I'm merely suggesting that an occasional deviation from the norm is fun. Let's say 1 lighthearted one for every 10 self-serious ones.
Another point I want to emphasize from my article is that the action sequences in Superman III are "filmed and edited in a way which makes it clear what is actually happening." That is perhaps my main beef with modern superhero movies. They look like they were edited by a coked-up hummingbird with a Cuisinart. The ASL (average shot length) has plummeted to the point of incomprehensibility. This, perhaps more than anything, is what has kept me from enjoying Christopher Nolan's critically-revered Batman films. I can never get a sense of what is actually occurring during the critical moments of the plot, so the events are robbed of meaning or consequence -- at least they are for me. I'm fully aware that 99% of filmgoers feel the opposite.
Bottom line: when I returned to Superman III I basically enjoyed it, and I try to explain why in my review... and I don't think it involves the "backflips" you say it does. It may be against the grain of current thought to admit liking Superman III, but I try to make my articles emotionally and intellectually honest. In short: I call 'em like I see 'em. |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 05/14/2010 : 00:18:24
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Hello, again. We just added a new article to our twice-monthly series about notable films from the 1980s:
Shock Treatment
Incidentally, if anyone has an idea how to increase readership for this series of articles, please let me know. We picked the movies of the 1980s because we thought it might be a good general-interest topic, but so far we haven't generated too many comments besides our own. This is frustrating, because Craig and I have put a lot of effort into these articles.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 05/14/2010 : 13:42:23
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| Well, you could always get some SEO advice. That usually helps. |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 05/17/2010 : 00:32:13
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Well, you could always get some SEO advice. That usually helps.
I'm wondering how much this aspect is under my control, as the site is not mine and I'm not the one who actually posts the articles. But this is an avenue worth pursuing. Thanks. |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Topic |
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My 1980s movie-reviewing project
