Just an FYI for anyone in the LA area, Thurs. Aug. 21 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood there will be a double feature screening of two of the all time classics: Ridley Scott's ALIEN and James Cameron's ALIENS. One a sci-fi/horror masterpiece, the other an action masterpiece. Both are absolutely amazing films, and although they belong to the same franchise and mythology, are completely distinct and artistically different films. I'm insanely excited for this since I've never watched both back-to-back, and have never seen ALIENS on the big screen. Check it out if you are in the area.
As always, comments are welcome and encouraged. What is your ideal double feature?
In honor of the start of the Beijing Olympics, it's only appropriate to talk about some of the great movies about the Olympic games. Actually, there's really not a whole lot of movies featuring the Olympics, but it certainly provides a compelling backdrop, weather it's a sports movie or not. Every four years, for a few weeks the world is attracted by the human drama created by obscure sports that no one watches the other 204 weeks. I think that's what makes the following movies memorable is because it exposes more of the emotion and human drama of sports rather than just the excitement of competition. Catch a couple of these before the games, you won't be disappointed and might even take more of an interest in some of the events. CHARIOTS OF FIRE- The Olympic "prestige" film that won Best Picture in 1981, CHARIOTS OF FIRE is the story of two sprinters chasing Olympic gold in the 1924 games. It's a really compelling drama that shows the passion, dedication and sacrifice of Olympic athletes. As a runner myself, I think it does a great job in expressing the devotion runners have to their sport that many people don't get to see first hand, or really understand. It also has that really memorable Vangelis score.
COOL RUNNINGS- While most Olympic movies are already feel good movies, COOL RUNNINGS will also make you laugh. It's fun and silly at times, but has a lot of heart, and the story (based on fact) itself is pretty amazing. It's hard now not to watch the winter Olympics and not cheer on the Jamaican bobsled team.
THE CUTTING EDGE- This movie is purely a guilty pleasure, but it's still very entertaining and works well as an Olympics movie. And, it actually makes pairs figure skating seem exciting! Some of it is a bit cheesy and far fetched, and the love story doesn't work, but I think it's worthy of a spot on this list.
MIRACLE- If you're a true American, you already know the story of the US hockey team beating the Soviets in the 1980 Winter Olympics in NY. I wasn't even born yet, so it's not an event that I can truly appreciate the magnitude of. All that comes to mind when I hear of it is the famous clip with Al Michael's screaming at the end of the game. MIRACLE isn't an amazing movie, but I think it does a pretty good job at dramatizing a huge moment in United States sports history. And Kurt Russell is great in it, too.
WITHOUT LIMITS- My favorite of the bunch, and one of my faves of all time, WITHOUT LIMITS is a severely under-appreciated and underrated movie. It's the story of Steve Prefontaine, a legend to all distance runners and would have been an Olympic legend had he not died in a car accident at a young age. In the running world, his death is seen much like John Lennon's was to the music world- a hero taken too soon. The movie also contains the best running scene ever dramatized on film (the Munich Olympics race). WITHOUT LIMITS is a really well made (written and directed by Robert Towne and even produced by Tom Cruise), but unfortunately little-seen movie. Check this one out for sure.
Hopefully you'll enjoy one of two of these movies and get excited about the Olympics starting in a couple of days. As you can see, there are a lot of diverse movies about the Olympics, but all are very enjoyable and rewarding viewing experiences.
As always, comments are welcome and encouraged. What are your favorite movies that feature the Olympics? Which of the above movies do you like best?
In an effort to expand the diversity of my blog, I'm gonna try a few new kinds of columns to have, especially ones that I can post on a more regular basis. The first kind is what I'm gonna call DAILIES- meaning just random thoughts on the day's entertainment news, and also interesting links relating to the film biz. I'll try to do it with some frequency, but who knows how long that will last. Let me know what you think...
DAILIES for Monday 8/4/08
-Box office recap: THE DARK KNIGHT continues to be an unstoppable force. One note I have to say about this: I hope the repeat biz on this movie continues. One thing that's been depressing in the past few years is how quickly these megahits make their money, then disappear from movie theaters until they're on DVD in 3 months. I hope THE DARK KNIGHT breaks that trend and plays in theaters for a few more months.
- Still President Bush: The teaser trailer released last week for Oliver Stone's W was just okay, but the advertising is really intriguing. This could be an interesting movie in the fall. I'm curious to know a) if the movie will be any good and b) if audiences will respond to it.
-Rebirth of a genre?: Interesting article about PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, which after seeing I'm surprised is getting as much press as it is. While I'm sure the movie will make a bunch of money, I have a feeling audiences will be a bit disappointed. The movie is good, but not great, and certainly not as laugh out loud funny as the trailers have you believe.
-The Govenator Responds: Some interesting thoughts from the original Terminator himself. He's right about a lot of points about James Cameron's vision for the first two TERMINATOR films, but TERMINATOR: SALVATION, to me, looks pretty badass and could bring the Terminator mythology in a really cool direction.
After graduating college I moved out to Los Angeles to pursue my lifelong dream to work in the Entertainment Industry. After 5 years where I had some incredible experiences and met a lot of great people, I decided that my chosen career was not all that I had hoped it to be and longed to do something more fulfilling to me personally. After experiencing my own personal “Quarterlife Crisis,” I made a personal decision to explore other passions I had before settling down. After leaving the Entertainment Industry, I chose to pursue a passion I had for teaching and helping others and joined an organization called WorldTeach, where I am currently volunteering in Africa and teaching English to high school students in Tanzania. While I am still learning my own Quarterlife lessons and finding my own path, through a lot of trial and error I have become more confident in myself as an individual and learning to love every day that I get to experience as a twentysomething adult. I started this blog because I am passionate about helping other Quarterlifers find their path, as I am, and spreading the message that this truly can be the most rewarding, fun and fulfilling time of your life.
