Daisychain of Horror - by Rob Braithwaite

It's October. Boo!

31 days, 31 links in a chain of terror and horror and a few laughs. Watch them all ...if you dare.

Boo!

The Changeling (1980)
Grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, a composer moves into a house that is obviously haunted.

George C. Scott also starred in...

Exorcist III (1990)
It's a better sequel to The Exorcist than Exorcist II: The Heretic.

Brad Dourif was also in...

Child's Play (1988)
The spirit of a killer possesses the coveted doll of a little boy.

Chris Sarandon showed up in...

Fright Night (2011)
A teenager grows suspicious of his new neighbor's behavior.

Anton Yelchin also starred in...

Green Room (2015)
A punk band is trapped by murderous neo-nazis.

Patrick Stewart was also in...

Lifeforce (1985)
Space vampires? It's a weird one.

Tobe Hooper also directed...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The title is self-explanatory.

John Larroquette was present in...

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
It's like the TV show but a movie!

Joe Dante also directed...

The Howling (1981)
Things that howl: dogs and werewolves. This isn't Cujo.

Dee Wallace was featured in...

The Frighteners (1996)
A medium and two lingering ghosts are the only ones who can save the town they have been conning.

Jim Fyfe took up space in...

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
A investigator is hired to find a missing horror author whose books are driving people insane.

John Carpenter also directed...

The Fog (1980)
Arrrrr, there be danger in that fog.

Janet Leigh kicked things off in...

Psycho (1960)
On the run after stealing from her boss, a woman spends a night in a roadside motel.

Incidentally, Gateway Film Center will be showing Alfred Hitchcock movies throughout October. Check out the schedule here.

Bernard Herrmann also scored...

Sisters (1972)
A woman witnesses a murder from her apartment. No, this isn't Rear Window.

Margot Kidder was also in...

Black Christmas (1974)
A killer finds plenty of victims in a sorority house during Christmas break.

Leslie Carson was also in...

The Fly (1986)
A daring scientist fucks it all up in a horrific way.

David Cronenberg also directed...

The Dead Zone (1983)
If you could see the future would you change it?

Michael Kramer also scored...

Event Horizon (1997)
It's a ghost (space)ship. But where has it been?

Sam Neill also starred in...

Dead Calm (1989)
A couple's solitary voyage is disrupted when they take on the sole survivor of a sunken ship.

Nicole Kidman also starred in...

The Others (2001)
A woman is haunted by ghosts while she awaits her husband's return from WWI.

Christopher Ecceleston also eventually showed up in...

28 Days Later (2002)
It's not a zombie movie.

Brendan Gleeson was also in...

Lake Placid (1999)
A peaceful lake community is upended by attacks from the deep. ...however deep lakes go.

blink and you'll miss Bridget Fonda in...

Army of Darkness (1992)
Time travel, demons and a boomstick. Oh my.

Sam Raimi also directed...

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
I hope to never find myself on the business end of a curse.

Cinematographer Peter Deming also shot...

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Strange things are afoot at the cabin in the woods.

Sigourney Weaver was on the screen a lot more in...

Alien (1979)
It's the first Alien movie, dummy.

Jerry Goldsmith also scored...

Magic (1978)
Speaking of dummy, a ventriloquist's doll infects a man's mind.

Anthony Hopkins also starred in...

The Wolfman (2010)
Gothic aesthetic is on glorious overdrive in this vintage tale. (seek out the director's cut)

Emily Blunt also starred in...

Wind Chill (2007)
During a snow storm is a terrible time to break down on an isolated road.

Cinematographer Dan Lausten also shot...

Silent Hill (2006)
A mother searches for her daughter on an alternate plain full of dark corners and jump scares.

Alice Krige was also featured in...

Ghost Story (1981)
Every year four old men tell each other scary stories. This year they will be in their own.
 

Boo!

Baby Driver: A Movie for Music Freaks - by "Wild Jon" Peterson

A MUSIC FREAKS DREAM MOVIE!  I’m not big on the “Action Film” genre.  I mean, I love “Die Hard” and “True Lies” as much as everyone because those films are the ‘gold standard’ with dynamic character relationships and great dialogue.  

But you’ll never catch me at a ‘Fast & Furious’ or Mission Impossible franchise movie, nor did I even see ‘The Italian Job.’ Crash & Bang means nothing to me without a killer plot, great acting and the right amounts of romance and comic relief.

So I was reluctant when my friend and fellow movie, music & TV super fan Karena Liakos came to me singing the praises of one of the Summer’s big action films, BABY DRIVER.  But the hook for me that piqued my interest was how much she was singing the praises of the music soundtrack and how it “cut to the beat” of the action in both a thematic and very cinematic way!

I knew that Edgar Wright was a talented young director from 2004’s killer zombie send-up SHAUN OF THE DEAD, but I never was expecting something like this.  It scores on every level (Action, Comedy and Romance) in a big way!

The plot is fairly simple… a young guy  (Ansel Elgort) is the ‘wheel man’ driver for white collar crime boss (Kevin Spacey) who hooks him up with various gangsters (Jon Hamm and Jamie Fox) who perform dramatic stick-up robberies while he (The “Baby Driver”) zooms, bobs and weaves the getaway car through the streets of Atlanta, GA.  

Lots of directors have used music as a “foreground” element: most notably by George Lucas in “American Graffiti” and “Goodfellas” (or any film) by Martin Scorsese.

The unique angle here is that our leading man (“Baby”) does virtually everything in life hooked up to is I-POD’s Earbuds.  Entire songs often play throughout the film in real time, as he skips, dances, drives around and falls in love.  

And the sound mix in the theater mimics how he is hearing the music,  If a character pulls out Baby’s IPOD ear bud, then the right channel drops out of the main speakers and is heard as tinn-y  ambient sound, mimicking Baby’s “first person” perspective.

The plot reason for all this? He was in a car accident as a child that resulted in severe tinnitus.  So he needs music to mask the hum & pink noise in his ears/head.

A complete song list and link (with corresponding plot action) is provided below.  But the highlights for me included:

• “Baby” dancing around the city to Bob & Earl's “Harlem Shuffle” while lyrical references and street life action are perfectly synced to the song.  A/V Synergy and visual choreography!

• A gangster tries to make a prick out of Baby for listening to music during a robbery prep meeting while “Baby” is listening to Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers.  The thug even reads the song title “Egyptian Reggae” from his IPOD screen to embarrass him.

• The instrumental “Let’s Go Away For A While” from the Beach Boys Pet Sounds LP plays as he admirers a pretty young waitress. (That title is thematic in foreshadowing their dreams of escape.)

• The waitress is singing Carla Thomas’ “B-A-B-Y” as she works.  “Baby” doesn’t know the tune, asks her the name of the artist, and then runs out to local record store to buy it.

• The waitress “Deborah” and “Baby” discuss human names in song titles. She knows “Debra” by Beck, but he teaches her “Debora” by T-Rex.  Being a dumb millennial who knows nothing about Marc Bolan and only sees the artist name on his small IPOD screen, Baby doesn't see the ‘dash’ in T-REX and tells the waitress that the musician’s name is “TREX”

• Then there is the GETAWAY MUSIC, including “Neat, Neat, Neat” by The Damned, “Brighton Rock” by Queen, and “Radar Love” by Golden Earring.

• Of course, the film ends with the obligatory “Baby Driver” by Simon & Garfunkel.

FOR COMPLETE LIST, CLICK HERE:

https://www.tunefind.com/movie/baby-driver-2017

Another use of ‘foreground music’ in the plot revolves around the fact that Baby carries around a tiny handheld recorder, catching snatches and snippets of character dialogue from everyday life, and then runs home to digitalize and manipulate it into mix tapes with looping, drum machines, etc.  This becomes a critical part of the film’s climax when Kevin Spacey finds out that he has been taping him.

A 95% ROTTEN TOMATOES rating says it all… as everything about this film is firing on all pistons.  This great action film is also a great comedy and romance movie!   It was written and directed by Edgar Wright, who also had a lot to do with the soundtrack selections (think of how Quentin Tarantino hand-picked every song in “Pulp Fiction").  With superb cinematography from Bill Pope and great ensemble cast, this movie not only has vehicular mayhem, but is also a MUSIC FREAK’S DREAM!

“Wild Jon” Peterson is the Host/Producer of SHAKIN IT RADIO on WCBE.  BABY DRIVER is now screening at the GATEWAY FILM CENTER, AMC LENNOX TOWN THEATRE, GRANDVIEW THEATRE & DRAFTHOUSE and SOUTH DRIVE IN.

Hot Sun, Cool Theater: Summer’s Movie Series - by Rob Braithewaite

That big ball of fire in the sky can get pretty hot this time of year. If you are looking to beat the heat, or just want to see an older movie on the big screen, the way you might never have before, the Gateway Film Center, CAPA, the Wexner Center for the Arts and Studio 35 have you covered.

GATEWAY FILM CENTER

Summer of Bond. July 1st - September 10th.

All twenty-six James Bond movies will be shown, in order, including the non-canon Casino Royale, starring Peter Sellers, and Never Say Never Again.

series information and tickets

CAPA

Summer Movie Series. June 23rd - August 6th.

If you’ve got an ol’-timey “classics” itch, this series is your scratching post. Hitchcock, Bogey & Bacall, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera! Fritz the Night Owl hosts a few of the new blood titles.

series information and tickets

WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

The New Hollywood: Deep Cuts 1967-1978. July 6th - August 24th.

Deep Cuts is right. Ain’t no radio hits on this list. See something you’ve never heard of before! The double feature of Juggernaut and The Driver is inspired. Inserts… well, that’s a Richard Dreyfuss movie no one mentions. It could be good.

series information and tickets

Free Tuesday Matinees. July 11th - August 8th.

Free movies. On Tuesday. In the afternoon.

series information

Wex Drive-In.

When the ball of fire goes down, the projector lights up.

July 20th: Wattstax
August 17th: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Free screenings.

series information

STUDIO 35

The New Hollywood: Classic Hits. July 3rd - September 3rd.

The Wex has partnered with Studio 35 to complement its Deep Cuts series with more familiar titles from that era.

series information

Four Cents: Rob & Ricki and Oscar, Part Four: Our Oscar Picks, Top Eight Categories

Ricki: It's become a tradition at the Cacchione household the last few years for us to host an (incredibly small) Oscar party.  That "party" consists of my lovely wife Debbie preparing a meal that involves bacon in some creative way (which I can't eat, since I can't digest meat protein) and our main movie friend Kyle coming over to watch the bloated nightmare that is the Oscar Awards broadcast from what seems like five in the afternoon 'til sometime past three o'clock the next morning.

The three of us fill out the entire Oscar ballot and point values are assigned to the various categories: i.e. tech categories are one point apiece; documentaries & animated maybe three points; writing cats five points; on up to 10 points apiece for the acting and best director & best picture picks.

Generally, by the time they get around to announcing Best Supporting Actress around midnight and people with jobs on Monday are already sleeping, I'm behind by so wide a margin that I start making up rules: like from then on, all the remaining categories are worth 50 points apiece.  The winner gets a prize, but none of us can remember what any of the prizes have ever been, so they can't be that great. 

So Rob and I are dispensing with all the down-the-line categories and concentrating on what we are terming The Big Eight: writing, acting, best director & best picture. 

Rob: I don’t watch the Oscars. I don’t like bloated pageantry. I have no dog in the fight, so I’m not missing anything. That’s not to say I’m not interested. I’ll check the results in the morning.

I have never entered an Oscars pool or had to predict the winners. Until now. What would we do if blogs didn't need content?

BEST PICTURE

Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Rob: Gotta begrudgingly pick La La Land. Hollywood loves Hollywood.  I’d like to be surprised by something else winning, but I don’t think I will be.

Ricki: Most of my picks are gonna be divided into What Should Win and What Will Win: What Should Win, Manchester By The Sea, by far the best movie I saw all year;  What Will Win, La La Land.   

BEST DIRECTING

Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
Kenneth Lonergan (Mancheaster by the Sea)
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)

Rob: Again, La La Land. It can’t win Best Picture and not win Best Directing. However, it is worthy of directing honors over best in show. My off-ballot hopes are with Moonlight.

Ricki: Rob's probably right about Best Picture/Best Director being intertwined, as they are most years.  Who Should Win, Kenneth Lonergan.  Who Will Win, Damien Chazelle. 

BEST LEADING ACTRESS

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Rob: Can we please agree that Meryl Streep is an excellent actress and not nominate her for anything for a while? The same goes for Pixar movies. Anomalisa should have won last year over Inside Out. Anyway, Isabelle Huppert for the win.

Ricki: I'm going with Emma Stone here, partly because I thought she was the best thing ABOUT La La Land, and partly because I truthfully didn't see any of the other performances.

BEST LEADING ACTOR

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Denzel Washington (Fences)

Rob: Denzel Washington. duh. If by some freak occurrence Ryan Gosling wins, I’m going to pretend it’s for The Nice Guys.

Ricki: I say Casey Affleck is going to pull this out. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Rob: Viola Davis. duh. And yet it can not be understated how much Michelle Williams crushed that one scene in Manchester by the Sea. You never would have guessed she was hardly in the movie before it.

Ricki: I didn't see Fences, so I'm pulling for Naomie Harris in a truly fearsome, ferocious performance in Moonlight.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Dev Patel (Lion)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Rob: Mahershala Ali. Largely no contest. When isn’t Michael Shannon great? Maybe when he’s slightly overshadowed by his co-supporting actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Sill, with a Taylor-Johnson nomination instead, Ali would have taken it.

Ricki: I concur, Mahershala Ali.  (Hopefully John Travolta will NOT be called upon to present this award.)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
20th Century Women

Rob: It’s between 20th Century Women and The Lobster. I’m giving the edge to The Lobster. Its world-building should be rewarded.

Ricki: Manchester By The Sea.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight

Rob: I’m assuming none of the voters compared the original text with the adaptation: I mean, that would be the best way, right? Sure, but I’m not going to do that either. I’d like to pick Fences. The content is great. I don’t feel like it was adapted for the screen. It still had the rhythm, feel, and - at times - the staging of a play. Is it better to change the content for the medium or to let it stand as it is? In this case, the latter was chosen. I’m picking Arrival.

…well, maybe not. Arrival’s strength might be in the editing. Hidden Figures, while an amazing story, is presented in a very ordinary way. I didn’t see Lion. So, Moonlight for the win.

Ricki: Yeah, this is tough, since I don't know what any of these screenplays were adapted FROM.  (But none of them were comic books, naturally.)  I'd like to pick Moonlight, but I'm going to go with Hidden Figures, just because I enjoyed it so much, which is exactly the kind of from-the-heart-makes-no-logical-sense-pick that loses me our Oscar Ballot Pize every year.

In closing I want to thank the Pencilstorm readers for hanging in with us through all these blogs and I especially want to thank Rob for watching 366 movies in 2016, an accomplishment that should be hailed.

My easiest Oscar Prediction of the Year?  Jimmy Kimmel is gonna suck as the host. 

The Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt Oscar One-Sheet

The Academy Awards are less than a week away, and, as you might expect, some of the nominated movies were a part of Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt. You will find links to every part of the 366 movie challenge below. The top three movies of each part are noted as well as the Oscar nominated movies. (Hint: Most are near the end.)

Part One
top three: Capricorn One, Monte Walsh, The Station Agent

Part Two
top three: The Big Short, Busting, Laura

2017 Oscar nominee:
Hail, Caesar! (Production Design)

Part Three
top three: The Pawnbroker, Seven Days in May, The Witch

Part Four
top three: Rififi, Room, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Part Five
top three: Dogfight, Harold & Maude, Seven Samurai

Part Six
top three: The Invitation, Juggernaut, Wendy and Lucy

Part Se7en
top three: Green Room, Paper Moon, Too Late

Part Eight
top three: Captain America: Civil War, Cleo from 5 to 7, Remember

Part Nine
top three: Everest, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, The Nice Guys

Part Ten
top three: The Lobster, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, The Secret in Their Eyes

2017 Oscar nominees:
The Lobster (Writing - original screenplay)
Zootopia (Animated Feature Film)

Part Eleven
top three: Calvary, The Children's Hour, The Fits

Part Twelve
top three: Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Lady Vanishes, Swiss Army Man

2017 Oscar nominee:
Star Trek Beyond (Makeup and Hairstyling)

Part Thirteen
top three: Don't Breathe, Palio, Sing Street

2017 Oscar nominees:
Captain Fantastic (Leading Actor - Viggo Mortensen)
Hell or High Water (Best Picture, Supporting Actor - Jeff Bridges, Writing - original screenplay, Film Editing)
Suicide Squad (Makeup and Hairstyling)

Part Fourteen
top three: De Palma, The Last Picture Show, Metropolis

2017 Oscar nominee:
Kubo and the Two Strings (Animated Feature Film, Visual Effects)

Part Fifteen
top three:Army of One, A Band Called Death, Moonlight

2017 Oscar nominees:
Arrival (Best Picture, Directing, Writing - adapted screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)
Doctor Strange (Visual Effects)
Hacksaw Ridge (Best Picture, Directing, Leading Actor - Andrew Garfield, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)
Moonlight (Best Picture, Directing, Supporting Actress - Naomie Harris, Supporting Actor - Mahershala Ali, Writing - adapted screenplay, Cinematography, Music - original score, Film Editing)

Part Sixteen
top three: After the Wedding, The Edge of Seventeen, Evolution

2017 Oscar nominees:
Allied (Costume Design)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Production Design, Costume Design)

Part Se7enteen
top three: Always Shine, Christine, The Eyes of My Mother

2017 Oscar nominees:
The Jungle Book (Visual Effects)
Nocturnal Animals (Supporting Actor - Michael Shannon)

Part Eighteen
top three: Black Christmas, Manchester by the Sea, Wild Tales

2017 Oscar nominees:
Fences (Best Picture, Leading Actor - Denzel Washington, Supporting Actress - Viola Davis, Writing - adapted screenplay),
Manchester by the Sea (Best Picture, Directing, Leading Actor - Casey Affleck, Supporting Actress - Michelle Williams, Supporting Actor - Lucas Hedges, Writing - original screenplay)
Rogue One (Visual Effects, Sound Mixing)

Here's hoping Van Hammersly will recount this year's Hollywood Awards.

Four Cents - Rob & Ricki and Oscar, Part Three: Oscar Commentary

Ricki - Concerning The Oscars: I like an art-house film as much as the next guy, but I've gotta admit, if some hip local tastemaker type tells me they just saw "A lovely Iranian documentary about a Pashti single mother who supports her family by raising pygmy Dalmatians in war-torn Syria, rendered in Farsi with French subtitles," I am likely to call "bullshit" on that picture simply because I know said tastemaker did not enjoy "Caddyshack."  (They never like Get Your Wings-era Aerosmith either.)  To me, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science's slavish devotion to La La Land is exactly the kind of misguided elitism that got Donald Trump elected President of the United States.  (Let's face facts, folks, Meryl Streep can badmouth Trump on T.V. award shows all she wants, but Gary & Kelly in Middletown, Ohio and Terry & Melissa out in the suburbs of Iowa - all of whom LOVED the new Star Wars movie and Bad Moms - still get one vote apiece in the national elections, the same as Meryl Streep and Michael Moore.) 

La La Land is essentially a movie ABOUT making a movie.  As such, it's exactly the kind of picture that the Oscars would rhapsodize over: "OH!, the storytelling, OH!, the cinematography, OH! the lush dancing-in-the-stars numbers with Emma & Ryan."  If Colin Gawel recorded a double-CD set ABOUT making a CD, I would probably like it, but I wouldn't expect Colin to try to foist it on the public-at-large, and I don't think HE would even want to.

As I said in my section of our Top Ten Movies blog, I enjoyed La La Land, but if there had been even one or two more quality movies out this year (and I kinda expect Arrival and/or Hell Or High Water to be those movies, once I have time to catch them) "LLL" would not have even made my Top Ten.

I can think of NOT ONE REASON that Captain America: Civil War did not get at least a Best Picture nomination from the Oscars.  Oh wait, yes I can: because it's a "comic book movie" and regular people might have liked it.  And ENJOYED it.  As much as I appreciated Manchester By The Sea and Moonlight and as much as I found them oddly simultaneously depressing AND uplifting,  I can't really say I enjoyed them.  And what I wouldn't have given for at least one COMEDY to get an Oscar nod, but God forbid we have a laugh while raising our crystal brandy snifters to Damien Chazelle's directorial prowess in La La Land.

Oooops, over to you, Rob, my cardiac pacemaker is signaling me that I'm becoming over-stimulated....... 

Rob - At the risk of short-circuiting your system, Ricki, La La Land isn’t about making movies. He’s a jazz musician. Sure, she goes on auditions, but you don’t see her on set. However, it is about people trying live their dream in Los Angeles, Hollywood’s hometown. And like The Artist before it, it’s a style that is rarely made anymore, reminding the voters of what it was like before, before the magic was gone. You want a populist voting system? You want to make movies great again? I give you La. La. Land.

The members of the Academy are busy folks. They can’t make it to the theater to see everything. The studios mail screeners of their movies for the members to watch in the comfort of their homes, as well as run “for you consideration” campaigns for individual categories. To me, this creates a rigged system. How likely are these voters going to look outside of what they are given and directed to look for? Good luck getting your movie recognized if it is released before September. I’m guessing Hail, Caesar! (released 2/5/2016) was nominated for production design because it was 1) a period picture and 2) about Hollywood.

The Academy made changes last year to ensure the voting body will become more diverse. I think this year’s nominations reflect those changes a little. Oscar nominees gets more attention from the studios. Their options for making more movies widen. If the new kids play their cards right, careers are made. The Oscars is how many people learn about some of these movies. Some folks will watch a movie just because it was nominated for an Oscar. Getting movies from a more diverse pool of storytellers is good for us all. Movies from women, gay and non-white filmmakers not only provide a different perspective but will inspire others like them, by showing there is a place for them on the movie theater screen.

In the end, it’s the Academy’s party. They will nominate whatever they want. They tend to lean toward more serious subjects, more “important” issues, flashier performances and Meryl Streep. Maybe one day movies with explosions will be recognized for more than how those explosions sound.

Four Cents will continue next week on Pencilstorm with an Oscars installment of Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt on Tuesday and Rob & Ricki's Oscars picks on Thursday.  Stay tuned.