The Hollywood thread

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

So, a friend told me about a Twitter challenge I thought was fun, which is to name your favorite movie for each letter in your name. I actually did all three parts of my name and listed my second and third favorites when letters repeated, but it's probably best to stick to first names here on the board:

Jaws
Outlaw Josey Wales, The
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan*
Highlander
Unforgiven
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, The

*This was the most challenging for me as I'm equally torn over The Searchers and Scarface (1983), but I don't have another S in my name.

I'm going with favorites as opposed to what I think is the best movie "objectively" with that letter.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

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[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

So, a friend told me about a Twitter challenge I thought was fun, which is to name your favorite movie for each letter in your name. I actually did all three parts of my name and listed my second and third favorites when letters repeated, but it's probably best to stick to first names here on the board:

Jaws
Outlaw Josey Wales, The
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan*
Highlander
Unforgiven
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, The

*This was the most challenging for me as I'm equally torn over The Searchers and Scarface (1983), but I don't have another S in my name.

I'm going with favorites as opposed to what I think is the best movie "objectively" with that letter.

Oh that's kind of cool!

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Rebel Without a Cause
East of Eden
Yellow Sky

It's funny I had two of James Dean's three movies listed among my four.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

^I don't think I've seen Yellow Sky. The other three are great.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

^I don't think I've seen Yellow Sky. The other three are great.

There just aren't a lot of movies that start with Y, but I'll say that at minimum Yellow Sky was very, very good. The death of screenwriter Lamar Trotti four years later at 52 was a big loss for Hollywood.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

There just aren't a lot of movies that start with Y, but I'll say that at minimum Yellow Sky was very, very good. The death of screenwriter Lamar Trotti four years later at 52 was a big loss for Hollywood.

As much of a Beatles fan as I am and would be tempted to say Yellow Submarine, if I had a "Y" to deal with, I'd probably be torn between Yojimbo and Young Frankenstein.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Some folks online are calling for all movies about Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood and King Arthur to be retired. I agree with that.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Some folks online are calling for all movies about Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood and King Arthur to be retired. I agree with that.

Ha. I could see that, though I believe it's theoretically possible in each case that there's still a good movie out there. The last Sherlock I liked was Condon's Mr. Holmes (McCellan). The last Hood I liked (not loved) was Ridley Scott's (Crowe). And the last Arthur I liked was Fuqua's that re-cast him (Owen) as a fourth-century Roman centurion. Those were 2015, 2010, and 2004 respectively, so I don't feel completely hopeless yet.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

Have you noticed that more and more new television shows are set before the 1990s or after an apocalypse?

That's because writers are finding themselves stifled when trying to write about the modern world, where everything is under video surveillance and everyone has a cell phone. Investigations now are about people entering data into computers and yelling "Aha!' when the results pop up. There's only so much you can do under that scenario, and it's already worn out.

Meanwhile, the modern world is just becoming more and more that way.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

I'll try this game. Though I'm probably not giving it enough thought.

Jurassic Park
One Hundred and One Dalmations
Star Trek: First Contact
The Highlander
Up
Apollo 13

I just skimmed through some lists on Wikipedia, and stuck with whatever one I noticed that I felt like I'd most want to watch again soon. I'm sure people could suggest others that would be better that I just didn't think of.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Have you noticed that more and more new television shows are set before the 1990s or after an apocalypse?

It's funny; I don't actually watch much TV, but I literally just saw a Youtube ad for a show set in the 90s.

In horror movies, if they don't go back, they have to come up with some excuse like the protagonist dropped their cellphone or the killer has a modem blocker.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

This is why the crime rate is dropping so sharply. You're going to get videotaped and caught almost every time.

Batman was always a goofy concept, but now it's completely untenable. In a world filled with drones, video cameras and cell phones, how is Bruce Wayne not going to get unmasked immediately?

Hell, just the unusual stuff he has delivered to his home would unmask him. You think that's not going to get noticed nowadays?

I think eventually comics too will have to go back to 1980s or earlier.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

It's funny. For a long time, "period piece" was an epithet and the kiss of death for a movie or a television show. Everything had to be modern and "hip." That trend is what killed Westerns.

But the modern world has become increasingly unwritable when the stories are about the investigation and solving of crimes, which is at the crux of most dramas. You can still write a soap opera that's set in the modern world, or a comedy, or a medical show, but modern cop stories are becoming more problematic all the time.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

...Yellow Sky...

^I don't think I've seen Yellow Sky. The other three are great.

There just aren't a lot of movies that start with Y, but I'll say that at minimum Yellow Sky was very, very good. The death of screenwriter Lamar Trotti four years later at 52 was a big loss for Hollywood.

Found it on Youtube (nice, clear copy too) and watched it today. It was great. The third act reminds me of Treasure of the Sierra Madre with how no-one can be trusted with the gold. It was interesting that in a movie at the height of the Hays Code they did a story centered on bank robbers, but they did get to moralize it by the end. The Death Valley locations were cool (no pun intended) and apparently this film is noted for its cinematography as well as the music.



There's a pretty good brief interview with the director's son about how Peck at first didn't and then did fit in with the cast and crew.

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