Sunday, September 24, 2017

The Essential Films Podcast Episode #015: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)



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EPISODE DESCRIPTION

We’ll...be….right….HERE. On today’s podcast adventure, Adolfo and Mark discuss the 1982 Steven Spielberg classic: E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL! On this week’s show:


  • More Alamo Drafthouse adventures from Mark
  • Unoriginal cosplayers
  • Our thoughts on the passings of Jerry Lewis, Harry Dean Stanton and Tobe Hooper
  • The infamous unreleased Jerry Lewis film THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED
  • Harry Dean Stanton should get a posthumous Academy Award nomination for LUCKY
  • “Avenge me!”
  • The 35th Anniversary of E.T.
  • When did we first experience E.T.
  • Probably the greatest family film of all time
  • Last day of school movies
  • The long stretches of time we went before rewatching the film
  • How the film is entrenched in pop culture
  • Experiencing it again for the “first time”
  • The movie still works on 2017 audiences
  • ET and Elliot going across the moon is the most iconic image in cinema
  • Kids smoking and swearing in family films
  • Why did you drop the pizza Elliot?!
  • The origins of E.T. from the mind of a young Steven Spielberg
  • How 1941’s production problems helped pave the way for E.T.
  • 1941: Spielberg’s worst film
  • Columbia passed on E.T.
  • The tragic mistake of M&Ms 
  • Reese’s Pieces!
  • Mark’s INCORRECT opinion on Reese’s Pieces VS M&Ms
  • E.T. taught kids how to play hooky from school
  • The cuteness of young Drew Barrymore
  • Why don’t we see the adult’s faces for half the film?
  • The trauma of frog dissection
  • Henry Thomas delivers one of the great child actor performances
  • Harrison Ford’s deleted cameo
  • TV versions of movies re-adding deleted scenes
  • The 20th Anniversary version
  • Walkie Talkies are not guns
  • Practical effects are always better than digital
  • Why the film was shot in chronological order
  • E.T. 2: NOCTURNAL FEARS
  • E.T.’s cameo in STAR WARS
  • The biggest movie of all time until 1993 when Spielberg beat the box office record again with JURASSIC PARK
  • E.T. The Atari Game
  • E.T. Adventure @ Universal Studios… kind of a lame ride.
  • “Penis breath!”
  • “Wolfman’s got nards!”
  • We’re not ready for 4K yet



FILM REFERENCES IN THIS EPISODE:


  • GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
  • CITIZEN KANE (1941)
  • THE QUIET MAN (1952)
  • ARTISTS AND MODELS (1955)
  • CINDERFELLA (1960)
  • PSYCHO (1960)
  • THE LADIES MAN (1961)
  • THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (1963)
  • THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
  • COOL HAND LUKE (1967)
  • 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
  • A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
  • THE GODFATHER (1972)
  • THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)
  • JAWS (1975)
  • KING KONG (1976)
  • CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
  • STAR WARS (1977)
  • HALLOWEEN (1978)
  • ALIEN (1979)
  • 1941 (1979)
  • ALTERED STATES (1980)
  • THE SHINING (1980)
  • ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981)
  • RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
  • THE KING OF COMEDY (1982)
  • FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH (1982)
  • POLTERGEIST (1982)
  • TRON (1982)
  • CHRISTINE (1983)
  • PARIS, TEXAS (1984)
  • RED DAWN (1984)
  • REPO MAN (1984)
  • INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984)
  • GREMLINS (1984)
  • FIRESTARTER (1984)
  • A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)
  • BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
  • THE GOONIES (1985)
  • PRETTY IN PINK (1986)
  • FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986)
  • STAND BY ME (1986)
  • THE MONSTER SQUAD (1987)
  • FULL METAL JACKET (1987)
  • BIG (1988)
  • STEPHEN KING’S IT (1990)
  • JURASSIC PARK (1993)
  • PULP FICTION (1994)
  • JINGLE ALL THE WAY (1996)
  • STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
  • THE LADIES MAN (2000)
  • SUPER 8 (2011)
  • THE AVENGERS (2012)
  • MAX ROSE (2013)
  • STRANGER THINGS (TV Series, 2016)
  • IT (2017)
  • LUCKY (2017)
  • SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING (2017)



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Thursday, September 7, 2017

Frankenstein (1910)



FRANKENSTEIN
J. Searle Dawley
1910 • 14 Minutes • 1.33 :1 • United States
Edison Manufacturing Company

Cast: Augustus Phillips, Charles Ogle, Mary Fuller
Written by: J. Searle Dawley Based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Described as a "liberal adaptation" of the Frankenstein story by Edison, the film packs a lot into its 14 minute runtime. The film wastes no time in getting right to the good stuff, practically skipping right to the experiment.  Instead of lightning bringing the monster to life, you see the monster materialize from skeleton to flesh. The special effects for the time are quite impressive and terrifying. The film is in the public domain, which you can check out below.

The Haunted Castle (1896)



The #CountdownToHalloween continues with our #HistoryOfHorror

THE HAUNTED CASTLE (1896)
Director: Georges Méliès
Writer: Georges Méliès
Starring: Jeanne d'Alcy, Jules-Eugène Legris, Georges Méliès

Genre: Haunted House

One of the earliest examples of horror on film comes from the imagination of Georges Méliès. Clocking in at a little over 3 minutes, Méliès packs a lot into the single shot short film. A bat bursts through a window in a castle and transforms into Mephistopheles. What follows is a series of in-camera magic tricks as the devil conjures up a series of supernatural creatures.