 I was stuck on the underground one time for more
than half an hour, lights out and everything, so I can appreciate
what it must have been like for the poor, stranded souls aboard Apollo
13. At least when they made it home they were treated like
heroes. No one seemed to care that I was hot and thirsty on that
moderately crowded tube. That thanks to the darkness it was
impossible to read. If it wasn't for my Gameboy and Walkman I'd have
had nothing to do. To make matters worse, when I eventually made it
into town, I ended up missing the first seven minutes of the movie
I'd gone to see. It was The
Flintstones.
That was eleven years ago now, and though I
should probably be over it by now, it still hurts whenever anyone
comments on the bravery and resourcefulness of the Apollo crew.
Still, in a bid to prove what a great sport I am, I'd like to
recommend the special anniversary edition of Ron Howard's
space-based drama, Apollo
13
, which marks not only the
movie's tenth birthday, but also the 35th anniversary of the actual
event. Maybe in a decade or so, someone will film my story, and then
I'll finally receive the sympathy I've been due all these years.
I'm often asked how I can
watch the same movies over and over again, a couple of times at the
cinema if I really like them, then repeatedly at home once they're
on DVD. Not back-to-back, you understand, but over the years. Star
Wars I've seen at least sixty times. My favourite Bonds
maybe twenty
or thirty times each. But as far as I'm concerned, that's no
different to listening to the same album repeatedly. Besides filling
time, most people use music to improve or enhance their moods, and
that's exactly why I'll watch a film time and again. They're like
old and reassuring friends, and I don't mean that in a sad and
lonely way. I do have real friends. It's just that movies are
better. 
When I'm down I watch
horror, something like Romero's
Dawn
of the Dead or Spielberg's Jaws,
which is still his best film as far as I'm concerned. It's somehow
comforting to see others in jeopardy. And since it's nice to laugh
when you're already cheerful, when I'm up I watch a lot of comedies.
Anything directed by Woody
Allen and Kevin
Smith, selected classics by Carl
Reiner and Mel
Brooks, and many of the movies of Jim
Carrey, Eddie
Murphy and Dan
Aykroyd. When Airplane
! first came
out in 1978, I saw it three days in a row at different cinemas, and
since owning a copy of my own I don't even want to guess how many
times I've popped it into my DVD player. Let's just say lots, and
leave it at that.
The older I get, and I'm 35 now, the more I seem
to get out of these films. Often you can re-watch a movie that you
haven't seen in years and enjoy it for completely different reasons.
So if there are any films you remember loving but haven't seen in
years, I'd recommend adding them to your Blockbuster list
.
Not that it's always easy watching an old favourite. You might be
left wondering what you ever saw in it. The flipside of that is that
often it's even better than you remember. On the whole, I think,
it's worth the risk.
 This
week at Blockbuster there's lots to discover. A collection, for
starters, of the earliest works on some of Hollywood's greatest
stars. Some of the films are surprisingly good. Others are
hilariously bad. Either way, there's a lot of entertainment to be
found in these formative features. See Jim
Carrey nude in All
In Good Taste (1983)! Keanu
Reeves and Kiefer
Sutherland getting their hands dirty in vigilante drama Brotherhood
of Justice (1986). Point and laugh at George
Clooney in Combat
Academy (1986). Brad
Pitt dazzles in teen sports drama Across
the Tracks (1991). Likewise Heath
Ledger in gritty Australian thriller Black
Rock (1997). Long before Tom and Hollywood got their hooks in
her, Australian starlet Nicole
Kidman kept herself busy making stuff at home like horse-riding
yarn Archer's
Adventure (1985) and edgy emotional drama Emerald
City (1988). To cap things off, few first films come better - or
worse - than Arnold
Schwarzenegger's Hercules
in New York
(1970), a.k.a. Hercules Goes Bananas. "It's Tremendous!!" screamed
the posters. "It's Stupendous!! It's Fun!!" With a little help from
Blockbuster Online, you're now in a position to make up your own
mind about Hercules and all those other early efforts.
In the wake
of this year's Academy Awards, we're also taking a look at the
greatest films, directors and movie stars ignored by the Academy in
our rather appropriately titled - The
Best Losers In The World collection and feature
which includes films like The
Color Purple, Some
Like It Hot, 2001:
A Space Odyssey, Raiders
of the Lost Ark and The
Shawshank Redemption
.
Now widely regarded as the best ever Hollywood
musical, when Singin'
in the Rain was originally released in 1952, it didn't even win
the Oscar for Best Score. Directors uncelebrated by the Academy
include Alfred
Hitchcock, Marty
Scorsese, Stanley
Kubrick, Ridley
Scott and Tim
Burton. Of the many actors and actresses denied the Academy's
golden doorstop, Richard
Burton, Peter
O'Toole, Kirk
Douglas, Vincent
Price, Marilyn
Monroe, Barbara
Stanwyck, Glenn
Close and Michelle
Pfeiffer
are among the most
surprising. For shame.
Rounding things off this week we have an interview
with director Mike Leigh - who has also never won an Oscar -
courtesy of Ultimate DVD. Leigh's latest movie, Vera
Drake
, was
similarly snubbed at this year's Academy Awards. Regardless of the
oversight, it's an incredible British film that deserves a place on
your Blockbuster list.
See you next week!
Marshall
Apollo 13 (C)
1995 Universal City Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Artwork (C)
2005 Universal Studios. All Rights
Reserved. |