Another amazing marathon at the PCC this time with the theme being "Films released in the year 1982", of which there were some stunners, none of which I'd ever seen in the cinema. On the big screen they were doing a Jurassic Park all-nighter which I was keen to go to but once I saw this announced I knew it was where I was going to be!
We started off with Blade Runner, which still stands up as visually one of the best sci-fi films of all time. It was great to see this on a big screen and the Vangelis soundtrack through a great soundsystem. Having been to the Bradbury Building in my last trip to LA, it was nice to have a "I've been there" moment.
Second up was Poltergeist, which I remember seeing as a kid and being a little bit freaked by the scene with the tree eating the kid. It's not stood up to time very well and on this view I saw it more as a dark comedy than a suspenseful horror. I'd forgotten the Jerry Goldsmith music in the film, it's great too!
Third up was the biggest film of the year and one of the few English-speaking films we could obtain (albeit illegally) when growing up in Cyprus. The quality wasn't very good then so so much better this time, and we got the original with the guns and not the cgi'd walkie-talkies which came in later revisions. How good is Drew's performance in this? Another film with a standout soundtrack with John Williams at the helm for this.
Then we had the mystery film and I was hoping for Tron but we got The Secret of Nimh which was the first, and easily best, film from Don Bluth who video game geeks will know as the director of laserdisc video game Dragon's Lair. This film tells the story of a widowed mouse and her attempts to relocate her family to avoid the farmer ploughing the field in which they live. Great animation, in the old style, and another stunning Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack meant that this wasn't as much of a struggle to get through as I thought when the film was revealed.
Film 5 was the original The Thing which was another film firmly burnt into my memory banks as is bound to happen to any kid who sits through the resuscitation and blood test scenes. An alien being with the ability to shapeshift is awoken in the Antarctic by a Norwegian team, kills them and then travels to a US base to take over the people there. Another great film that was perfect in 5th place as I got through this easily and the jumps were loud enough to prevent any of us from going to sleep (except for a dad on my row who'd been wearing headphones and a blindfold since Nimh). A rather weak Morricone soundtrack on this one, but it didn't matter.
The final film was for me the weakest of the bunch with the Rambo: Origins film. Here we see Rambo visiting a small town in which he's not welcome leading to a battle between him and the authorities. It's such an odd film to have the action sequences and then end on a mental breakdown, but Stallone puts in a good performance. This however is definitely one film where the sequel is better than the first. I did nod off through some of this but made sure I was awake of the version of the Rambo anthem with lyrics.
Overall a great night (these things always are) and a good percentage of the attendees remained until the end. A lot of them were saying they were here because they'd not seen most on the big screen either...I hope this leads to other years being done.
No comments:
Post a Comment