Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Superman II

We had a special trip to the Paramount this evening, see Superman 2, but that was not the thing that made the trip so special. We were invited to a tour of the theaters projection booth before the movie. This tour was supposed to be for several guests over the course of the evening, but we were the only ones who showed up and as a result we got a special personal tour, including a half hour conversation with tonight's on duty projectionist Chad. More about the tour in a minute, first a few words about the movie.

Superman 2 is one of the first movies that I heard people say as a sequel, it was superior to its original film. For a number of years I've believed that it was certainly a good film and maybe it rivaled the original film. This evening though, looking at it through fresh eyes, I have to say it's not nearly as good as I remembered it being. There are still some great sequences, and Christopher Reeve continues to be the definitive Superman, but so much of the movie is spoiled by clunky exposition, cartoonish bits that have been soldered onto the good action sequences, and a severe shortage of Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor.

Mr. Hackman's hammy performance as Luther was one of the joys of the original Superman. His scenery chewing and one-liners were enough to make the film feel fun, even well a truly dastardly plot was being carried out. Hackman gets to flex his muscles a little bit in the early part of the film, and then disappears for the entire second act of the movie. He does get a few zingers in during the last section of the film, but he should be getting more screen time. Maybe if there were fewer jokes about ice cream cones flying into faces, or roller skaters being forced backwards by the breath of the villains, or worst of all a guy continuing a phone conversation as the phone booth is knocked over and blown Away and he keeps talking while lying on the ground. These were dumb bits that could have been disposed of, and then Gene Hackman could have a little bit more screen time.

Unfortunately that kind of humor permeates several sections of the film. The opening sequence of the three escaped villains from The Phantom Zone actually plays pretty well even when there are some jokes. They never seem hokey. Once we get to Earth however, the hicks that the villains encounter in a town called East Houston, seem like stereotyped caricatures from the very beginning. We are supposed to be laughing at them even before they do anything funny. I never felt like laughing during this sequence. I did like the scene where General Zod and his two accomplices come to the White House to confront the president. When the president finally steps forward and takes a knee in the hopes of protecting human life, he utters the phrase "Oh God", and the general corrects him by simply saying his own name... Zod, now that was funny.

After establishing Lois Lane is a fearless reporter in the first act during the terrorist take over of the Eiffel Tower, she and Clark gets sent to Niagara Falls to cover a story for the magazine section of the Daily Planet. This is really just a justification for building the romance between Lois and Superman and setting up the dilemma that Kal-El faces when he has to choose between being Earth's protector or Lois's lover. Some of it works, some of it is a little too clunky. You do feel Clark's frustration and desperation when he has given up his powers and discovers that the three villains from Krypton are now on Earth. The trek he makes back to his Fortress of Solitude, is a little on the nose and of course unrealistic for a mere mortal. Those are questions however that don't really matter, because there's a bigger story coming.

A fight in New York City/ Metropolis is actually pretty nicely staged given the effects that were possible at the time. The problem is that the director, Richard Lester, keeps inserting moments of humor which take away from the drama of the sequence because they don't reflect something witty, but instead something that is too on the nose and preposterous. In the final act, Superman manages to accomplish several things with powers that we never knew he had before and that just feels a little too easy as a way of resolving the conflict. Oh, by the way, we are left wondering what happened to Gene Hackman's character after the villains are dispatched. We really don't know. But everyone was happy to cheer Superman returning the flag to the roof of the White House.

Back to the tour for a minute, we arrived promptly at 6:00 p.m. believing that that's when we were expected, but it turns out that it was open for an hour and that any group could arrive during that time for the tour. We waited a few minutes for somebody else to arrive and while we waited we chatted with several of the employees of the Paramount Theater. Krystal was one of the guides/ hosts for the tour and she was happy to listen to my stories about old movie theaters and the kinds of movies that Amanda and I like to go to. Danielle, who's in charge of the fan services for the Paramount was also quite happy to talk to us as she turned us over to one of the other employees to take us upstairs to the projection booth. Wendy was responsible for giving us the tour of the projection booth, and she introduced us to Chad who is the digital projectionist, and is working on becoming more proficient with the film projectors. They have some 35mm projectors and are also going to be doing five 70 mm presentations during the summer.

Chad was very good about telling us the history of the projectionists at the theater and he balanced the history with some nice technological information about the spotlights, the projectors, and the other equipment that we were getting a chance to see. When we got back downstairs we got a chance to chat with Monica who was the bartender in the Houdini Lounge area where the guests were supposed to congregate. It was a smaller crowd than I was expecting in the theater, and it was an even smaller crowd upstairs in the lounge, since it was just Amanda and me.

The employees were all interested in listening to us as we talked about theaters and movies and streaming and assorted other cinematic issues. I was very grateful that they took the time to pay attention to us. We felt special just getting a chance to do the tour, and when it winded up that it was just the two of us, we felt even more special. We got to hear a couple of ghost stories, see the scary bathroom for the projectionists, and got treated to some new friends at our favorite place in Austin Texas, the Paramount Theater.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series- This is Spinal Tap

When I wrote about this movie 10 years ago, I suggested in my post that the songs from this movie should have filled all the categories for best song at the Academy Awards. I stand by that statement because these songs do what a music piece in a film is supposed to do, advance the story, illustrate a problem faced by the characters, or tell us more about the characters themselves. All of the songs played by the band Spinal Tap in this movie do those things. I was reminded of this as I watched the film last night, and found myself tapping my toes and mouthing the words while simultaneously laughing.

This Is Spinal Tap is a documentary/ Mockumentary that tells the tale of a band that went from 60s pop to 80s heavy metal and suffered ups and downs like all musical groups do as the fads that they ride go in and out of fashion. Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer accomplish the task of making characters that we can laugh at and simultaneously identify with, at least to a point. Everyone has felt stupid doing something that others applaud, at the same time we love doing stupid things because we get to get away with it. Rockstars is a notorious for doing exactly this.

When this film came out we were at the height of hair metal popularity, and aging bands playing the nostalgia circuit. Spinal Tap may not have been a real band before this, but after this movie came out the actors who are also the songwriters discovered that their characters had an exterior life, and they have done subsequent tours and special events, and there's even a sequel in the works. Frankly this movie produces more laughs per minute than most other films are able to accomplish in 90 minutes. The only other movies that I've ever felt comparable to the laugh ratio are Mel Brooks films, Monty Python films, and a few early seventies gems. I sure hope that Tap can sustain the laughter in a new entry.

Once again I was at the beautiful Paramount Theater in downtown Austin enjoying a classic movie on a summer evening with several hundred like-minded folks. The audience at last night's screening laughed continuously and they all seem to get the joke. I could tell that several people in the audience were seeing this for the first time because their laughter was simply too spontaneous to reflect any memory. The movie is a brisk 90 minutes, with several performance set pieces that will leave you chuckling. If the shenanigans that take place during the Stonehenge number don't make you laugh, you probably have no sense of humor.

Let's be happy that metal music still exists, that rock bands from the 70s still make the rounds, and that fans of that genre can laugh at themselves when watching a film Like This Is Spinal Tap. Let's face it, if you can't enjoy someone else's amusement at your own foibles, then you were too stuck up to really be a rock fan. Let's tap into the next great song.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series -The Godfather Part 2

If you look elsewhere on the site you will find a list of my 10 favorite films. I cheated on one of the entries by listing both The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2 as a single unit. That's because I always think of them as one big movie that just got separated by 2 years. The stories integrate so incredibly well, and the casting of the younger versions of characters that we come to know in the first Godfather is so spot on, that it feels like it was planned from the very beginning.

I'm so happy that the Paramount scheduled Godfather Part 2 on its 50th anniversary, because this is a movie that should be celebrated regularly. I don't usually wait for a round number to rewatch the film, I think I saw it just a couple of years ago when I was doing my binge on "The Offer", the streaming series based on the creation of the original Godfather. I like to catch up with this movie as often as possible although it is 3 hours and 20 minutes, which means that I'm not sitting down for a casual watch. Fortunately this is an opportunity to see the film on the big screen and once again it is as impressive as I remember.

Actor John Cazale famously made only five movies, all of which were nominated for Best Picture, and three of them won the award. It's amazing to me that Cazale  himself was never nominated. The only reason I can think that his performance in this film was overlooked is because there were three other supporting performances that were also pretty spectacular. It would have seemed odd at the Academy Awards if four out of the five slots had been taken up by actors in this film. Regardless Cazale's performance as Fredo, is both heartbreaking and frustrating. If you've never seen the movie I certainly am not going to spoil it for you, but let's just say that Michael never lets an offense to the family go unpunished.

The parallel structure of the two stories in this film starts with the rise of Vito Corleone as he and his family build a foundation in the early part of the 20th century in New York City , it is phenomenal. Robert De Niro, who did win this supporting actor award for his role in this film, actually looks like Marlon Brando might have looked in his leanest and hungriest years. He starts off as a naive waif, uncertain of where he fits in among the immigrants that he lives with and works around. When he encounters a young Clemenza, played with great personality by the late Bruno Kirby,  Vito finds his way to his true destiny. Young Don Corleone was building his family up, but Michael Corleone in his desire to control his family completely, basically dismantles its core. In Godfather Part 3 we will get to see how it all plays out, but even without that pictures existence, we have a pretty clear idea of the wasteland that Corleone's life had become.

It's hard to imagine that Francis Ford Coppola was reluctant to do a sequel to the movie. He had so much success and a natural affinity for the material that it seemed inevitable that he would take on the task. The fact that he was able to use the studios desire for him to continue the story as a way of financing the film that he made between the two Godfathers, "The Conversation", is just an extra bonus. When you watch the scenes of young Vito Corleone stalking Fanucci across the rooftops of the Italian neighborhood that this supposed member of the black hand was in control of, it's like watching a tiger follow its prey. Inevitably there is violence, but Don Corleone does his best to keep the violence away from his family all of whom are all incredibly young at this point.

Michael's story is of course a huge contrast, he starts off with all kinds of Power, but can't keep the violence from intruding on the most personal parts of his life. The machine gun attack that takes place near the beginning of the film, highlights for his wife Kay, that the family is not really capable of going legitimate. Michael's inability to confront problems with his son, or understand his wife's pleas, makes him seem cold-hearted, when what he really is is a rock hard leader of a criminal organization. He lacks the warmth that his father had with his associates. There's a great scene where he seems to be calling his adopted brother Tom Hagan on the carpet for fielding a job offer from another Institution. He comes across as bitter, and unsympathetic. Contrast this to the scene in the first Godfather when Vito actually comforts Tom when Sonny is killed. The difference between Father and Son is subtly displayed in these two scenes. Vito always played the humble part very well. Michael on the other hand is arrogant and self-assured, and never once allows anybody to see him sweat. Hell even in Cuba Michael has a hard time relaxing a little with his brother or the business associates that he is working with.

Coppola gives us fantastic set pieces, featuring hundreds of extras in elaborate costumes with distinctive music that clearly sets the time and place of the scenes that are playing out. The street festival where young Vito is stalking Fanucci, the confirmation party in Lake Tahoe, and the New Year's Eve Revolution in Havana, are all spectacularly staged and probably a big part of why Coppola received the directors award that he was denied two years earlier. This was a big picture put together beautifully, with a huge degree of thought and care as to how the story was going to integrate the two lives.

I've told the story before of taking my girlfriend to see The Godfather and The Godfather Part 2 playing together back in the late 1970s. When the first film ended as we got up for an intermission to use the bathroom and maybe get something to drink, but the lights went down again and the second movie started immediately. We both sat down, skipped getting a drink, skipped going to the bathroom, and watch the second movie. We were hypnotized by the artistry of these two films. The fact that this woman sat with me for six and a half hours without a break only cemented my certainty that she was the woman I should spend my life with. So there's that story again, hope you enjoyed it.

Paramount Summer Classic Film Series-Young Frankenstein

                        

50 years ago was the start of a wonderful relationship for me. This was the year that I discovered Mel Brooks. Both "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein" came out this year, and I saw them with my high school friends who all laughed as loud as I did. We knew we were in the presence of somebody who knew how to be funny, especially to high school boys. "Blazing Saddles" was the first of these two films to be released in 74, and it's raucous, irreverent, and some times down right offensive. It was also a western, which I have a deep abiding Love for.

In spite of my admiration for "Blazing Saddles", I've always felt that it was the second best Mel Brooks film of 1974. "Young Frankenstein" goes beyond silly parody, to be a genuine tribute to and echo of the classic Universal horror movies. Of course it is hysterical, there was little doubt that with the input of Brooks and co-screenwriter Gene Wilder, that this is going to be incredibly funny. It turns out that it is also incredibly sweet, with a soft spot for all of the characters in the film, even some of those loathsome villagers who think it's time for a riot. There is something to laugh at and embrace in just about every scene.

To start off with, they made the film in black and white. In 1974 that was not very typical. Sure there were a few other films at the time that used black and white to suggest the past. Films like "The Last Picture Show", "Paper Moon", "Lenny" and a few more, They all use black and white to draw attention to themselves in a way that made them stand out in the crowded '70s field. But in the field of comedy, you don't get a lot of black and white films that are contemporary, until Woody Allen gets going a few years later. The truth is, this movie wouldn't have worked in color, because our collective memory of the Universal films is black and white. Boris Karloff may have had green face makeup when the original Frankenstein was created, but we only saw the black and white and that's what we remember. It would have been disturbing to have Peter Boyle on screen as the monster with a green face. Besides, all those great sets that were being used to make the movie wouldn't look nearly as Gothic and creepy if they were in color. The villagers walking through the forest with fog rising from the ground in black and white just makes sense.

It would be pretty hard to go wrong with a cast that includes Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, and Kenneth Mars, but when you add a surprise guest performance by my favorite actor in a completely unexpected role, I'm just going to have to say this film approaches perfection. Let's face it Gene Hackman, as an avuncular blind man stumbling his way through making a new friend, may be the funniest 5 minutes in the whole movie, and that saying something.

The John Morris score is also something pretty special. It recalls Frankenstein with its limited score, Dracula with its borrowed themes, and classical source music. The little horn section gets its own joke when Marty Feldman as Igor, plays his little horn to accompany Inga on the violin. It's guaranteed to get a chuckle for you. Next to the sequence with Gene Hackman, the dance routine with Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle to "Puttin' on the Ritz" maybe one of the most bizarre, ridiculous, and ultimately perfect realizations of the absurdity of this story. Super duper.

As family-friendly as Young Frankenstein is, there are a couple of raunchy jokes built into the movie, especially at the end. Most of these will sail over the heads of kids, but teens and adults will smile at the sexual innuendo that is never explicitly stated. The film is certainly not as ribald as Blazing Saddles, but it's not G-rated for a reason. We are reminded once again how sadly we miss Gene Wilder on screen, his performance is one for the ages. The moment of his frustration when he can't get his two assistants to understand what he's asking for as he's being strangled by the monster, is both pantomime perfect, and then when he gets his voice back vocally hysterical. I have no patience for anybody who doesn't think this film is funny. It's so funny that I was amused by the slot machine that was based on it and was ubiquitous in Vegas two decades ago. Too bad you can't find those slots now, I'm really in the mood for dropping some coin and hoping to get a bonus.

The Paramount 50th Summer Classic Film Series The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 2024 Revisit

Hope Springs Eternal that seeing "Phantom of the Paradise" on the big screen will be an annual event. It has been for me for at least the last 2 years, now let's keep our fingers crossed and pray that the streak can continue. This particular screening was opening weekend at the 50th Anniversary of the Paramount Theater Classic Summer Film Series. Since I got to Austin in the middle of the pandemic, I've discovered that the Paramount Theater in downtown Austin is my true second home. The theater is busy most nights with comedy shows and concerts from a variety of artists. In the summer however, especially during the week, the theater is filled with film fans who get a chance to enjoy some old classics in the way they are meant to be seen, on a big screen in a beautiful Movie Palace.

I started coming to the Paramount Theater in 2020 at the end of the summer when the lockdowns and the theater closures were finally dissipating. As it happened, the first two films that I saw at the Paramount were two of my favorite films of all time, Jaws and Lawrence of Arabia. Ever since then I have looked at the schedule for the summer series with anticipation. Last year my daughter and I sprang for the annual Club membership that allowed us to attend almost all of the film screenings in the summer series, as well as the Halloween "Panic at the Paramount" and the Christmas season offerings. This year we had no problem in deciding to renew, because this is how we live, and it's how I roll.

Last year's screening of "Phantom of the Paradise" was at an Alamo Drafthouse with an edited edition of the film done according to the specifications of director Brian DePalma. This version is unofficial, and the studio probably doesn't really approve of it being shared. The version we saw this week was the one that played in theaters in 1974. It includes some of the bad floating matte work that was required to cover the "San Songs" logo, which was a copyright issue with the band Led Zeppelin.  Steven Janice, the programmer at the Paramount, pointed out that the movie only made about $20,000 in its first week of release back in 1974. I'm pretty sure the $3.50 of that came from me, because I saw this film at the UA Theater in Pasadena in the fall that it came out.

It is hard for me to contain my enthusiasm for this movie. Brian DePalma was one of the most reliable directors in my formative years as a movie fan. This was the first of his films that I saw, and I loved it then as I do now. In addition to the outrageous premise the wild costumes and the over the top performances of some of the supporting cast, we have a fantastic score and a dozen songs from The Genius Paul Williams, who also happens to star as Swan, the villain of the movie.

I can never get "Goodbye Eddie" out of my head after hearing it in this movie. It's the opening song played under the titles, and if you look at the promo that I've posted here for the classic summer film series, you'll hear that it is the soundtrack for this ad. Winslow Leach may not approve of the "Juicy Fruits" but I was perfectly happy with their upbeat parody of a a 50s style lament about a rockstar who takes his life in order to increase his fame. Later on, the same band bastardizes Winslow's Faust score to present a Beach Boys Style parody song "Upholstery". This is another one of those Paul Williams tunes that gets hooked in your head and won't go away. This movie is full of earworms.

I was a little brought down by the opening weekend of the summer classic film series because our annual pass was only good for one of the three screenings. We could have bought tickets separately for Casablanca or for Star Wars, but we did have other films that we were seeing that weekend so we limited ourselves to the Phantom experience. It appeared that a lot of other film fans felt the same way we did because they were out in mass on Sunday for this movie. The reception to the film was enthusiastic, and frankly I was sad that it was over because I wanted to do it all again immediately.

I've written about the film in a couple other places here on this blog so I will give you the links for those posts, so if you are interested in knowing more about the movie and the things that make it so special you can visit those musings. For now let me just say at the summer season is off to a rousing start and I have the Paramount Theater, Brian DePalma, and Paul Williams to think for my elevated mood this week. I'll be seeing you regularly down on Congress Boulevard, if you see me say hi I'll be the guy with a big smile on his face wallowing in classic movies.

"Paul Williams and the Phantom of the Paradise"

Phantom of the Paradise Remastered 

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) Revisit (2024)

 

I so enjoyed this movie when it first came out, I simply could not understand the backlash it got from fans. This is an entertaining caper movie which introduces us to one of the most iconic rogues in movie history. Maybe the controversies about the production are what kept some people from embracing it, but for my money, it is better than both "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker".

We got a chance to see it on the big screen again at an Alamo Drafthouse presentation. Alamo has great theater themes, and the best programming of any movie chain. My major problems with the chain have to do with the fact that it is basically a restaurant with a movie screen, so food and drinks are the attractions that distract from the film. I enjoy most of the food I get there, but I would be just as happy with a concession stand and no servers. 

I thought Alden Ehrenreich was great as a young Hans Solo, but my opinion seemed to be in the minority when the film was first released. I don't think anyone disagreed however with the opinion that Donald Glover was perfect as the early incarnation of Lando Calrissian. The two of them have the best dynamic in the story. Emilia Clarke was fine, but her character is underdeveloped and she needed to be integrated into the earlier sequences a bit more effectively. Ron Howard took over as director of the movie, and his functional, direct style is the right one for a film like this in a series that requires some consistency.  I'm sure that the original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, had something to offer, but it may have been too outside the lines to work.

I don't have anything too different to say about the movie from my original comments six years ags, you can read those here. I still think John Powell's score fails to do justice to the film, but that it is serviceable enough. Woody Harrelson has become one of those reliable actors who when cast correctly, makes the movie better just by showing up. Harrelson does more than just show up in this film, and we are all better off for it. 

Furiosa : A Mad Max Saga (2024)

 

In the ranks of Mad Max Films, this is probably at the bottom from my point of view. That turns out not to be a knock on this film, but an assessment of my admiration for all the other films in the series. This is still a terrific action film, with an elaboration of the world that writer/director George Miller has created, but it does feel like an appendix rather than another step in the Mad Max world. Part of the reason that this is true is that this is a prequel story, and it does not focus on Max at all, but rather the character of "Furiosa" from, the previous film in the series "Fury Road".

The comparison that can be made here is that of the stand alone Star Wars films, "Rogue One" and "Solo". These movies have a lot to offer by way of entertainment value, but they do not feel essential to the central story that is being told in the series. I found "Furiosa" compelling at times, but I do know from the start where the story is going to end. So although there are harrowing escapes and breathtaking action beats, the conclusion is forgone. While that may be acceptable in a superhero movie or a James Bond film, post apocalyptic films need more uncertainty to keep us engaged. This movie is exciting but not essential.

Charlize Theron does not return to play the character here. Since every iteration of "Furiosa" taht we get for this film is younger than the character we saw in "Fury Road", it makes sense to recast rather than do elaborate de-aging F/X work for most of the film. Alya Browne plays the youngest versions of the character in the story, and I thought she was great. In fact, the two segments of the movie that feature her, could easily have been their own separate movie.   I found the opening sequences of the film to be some of the best tension and emotional payoff of the story, The chases and the fights may not have been as elaborate as we get later, but the stakes feel higher and the character gets the most growth.

When Anya Taylor Joy arrives in the movie, the situation has shifted and we get something that is a lot more familiar, (at least to anyone who has seen Ben Hur). Furiosa has an escape plan that requires a lot of luck. She acquires an ally and lover along the way. She suffers loss and her need for revenge takes precedence over her goal of returning to her home. The whole process of her story sometimes get shunted aside by the story of her nemesis, "Dementus", the character played by Chris Hemsworth. Technically, the character is "Dr. Dementus"" but if I think of that, I'm going to be looking around for a Weird Al Video. Hemsworth gets to chew the scenery effectively as the main villain of the piece, and he hides pretty well under some make-up and costuming, so we are unlikely to thing too much of Thor. 

There are three different wasteland empires that all come under attack at some point in the story. There are also a half dozen various bands of wasteland scavengers that engage in these attacks, so there is always an elaborate combat sequence in the offing. The film is nearly two and a half hours long, and since there is virtually no down time between the sequences of road chases and combat, it feels a bit exhausting. The original Mad Max was under 90 minutes and The Road Warrior was barely over the same mark. The efficiency with which those stories were told should have been present here, but there is too much going on to get it done at that clip.  Yes we get more depth in the characters and the world building, but the action sequence may begin to run together because there are so many of them. 

You will have to commit to the movie because of the chapter structure that is used to tell the tale. Those segments are not really stand alone pieces, but the title cards are as close as you are going to get in a break during the film. I think Miller's ambition may exceed his audiences hunger for this world. If you still have a big Max sized appetite, this will hold you, but it feels like a side dish rather than a main course.