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DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult


Devon Malcolm

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Zahn is great in everything, Would have loved for Sahara to become a franchise (which I think was the original plan) Hes good in 'That Thing You Do' which I've always had a soft spot for

 

Edit: I fucking love you Branquey

Edited by chokeout
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Also fantastic in Treme.

 

I loved Happy, Texas, hope they put that on again some time.

 

Amazed at the Sahara love, I though I was the only person on the planet who like it. So poorly did it do that Clive Cussler sued the producers for damaging the franchise.

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 So poorly did it do that Clive Cussler sued the producers for damaging the franchise.

 

What are you, Yoda now?

 

The lawsuit was more to do with the insane Hollywood accounting that went on, which meant it made a ton of money, but still made a loss, as expenses were marked as close to $300m, so nobody got paid on their points.

 

A bunch of documents leaked, laying out all of the costs of its crazy budget, which made for interesting reading if you're into that sort of thing. There was $237,386 paid out on bribes to the locals and $227,515 for the travel arrangements of Penelope Cruz's entourage, while the local Moroccan crew were making less than $250 a week. Cruz's hairstylist got $135k.

 

More about it here.

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Here's 50 behind the scenes shots of Return of the Jedi, most of which I've never seen before (which is saying something). 

 

A couple in particular blew my mind:

 

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The Stormtroopers in the Death Star hangar bay are painted! I never twigged that before.

 

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And how cool is Harrison?

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 So poorly did it do that Clive Cussler sued the producers for damaging the franchise.

 

What are you, Yoda now?

 

The lawsuit was more to do with the insane Hollywood accounting that went on, which meant it made a ton of money, but still made a loss, as expenses were marked as close to $300m, so nobody got paid on their points.

 

A bunch of documents leaked, laying out all of the costs of its crazy budget, which made for interesting reading if you're into that sort of thing. There was $237,386 paid out on bribes to the locals and $227,515 for the travel arrangements of Penelope Cruz's entourage, while the local Moroccan crew were making less than $250 a week. Cruz's hairstylist got $135k.

 

More about it here.

 

 

Cool, I'll read that.  

 

It's one of the real failed opportunities for a franchise, that.  McConoghughehaey was perfect for the role, and it really zipped along.  Plus there are dozens of books with equally ridiculous plots; actually the book is quite a bit better than the novel!

 

The other great missed franchise, IMO, was Master & Commander, which is a really awesome movie and was meant to be the start of a series (in this case, the novels are great) but as it didn't do that well at the box office it ended up being a one-off.  Considering we get a million versions of Batman, Superman etc every decade, that seems a real pity.

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Don't forget Zahn's performance in Daddy Day Care!

Daddy Day Care is one of those films that if its on, we'll watch it every time. Can't put my finger on why, but it just works so well.

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Trifecta of films this weekend.

 

Firstly, The Equalizer. Enjoyable, if not entirely unpredictable, and probably would have been even more enjoyable if there wasn't a trailer for Taken 3 (or TAK3N, as they spell it) before it. I did keep hoping a reworking of the TV series theme would work it's way in there somewhere.

 

Then it was an afternoon of checking out films I saw 30 years ago to see if they still held up.

 

First was Frog Dreaming, or The Go Kids as it was called in the UK to cash in on The Goonies popularity. I mean, great as it is, check out how Goonerific that cover art is.

 

6852289040_2c8942a153_z.jpg

 

I liked this when I first watched it. My sisters and friends weren't too bothered about it. It's slower paced and not as action packed as The Goonies, which is a bit arse when that's what you're expecting, but the story's good and Henry Thomas shows what he learned from working with Spielberg to good effect.

Australian films from the 80s often don't age particularly well, but this was pretty much as I remembered it, and so gets a thumbs up from me. The missus nodded off and missed the ending.

 

Next up was The Wizard of Speed and Time, which has already been mentioned. Been putting it off, but as we were having a lazy day, it was the perfect opportunity to watch it. This is obviously a boys film, as our mechanically orientated minds appreciate the skill in the construction of the film, where as girls get bored and point out that he's not really running that fast.

 

Overall, a good weekend, but I'm not allowed to pick the films for a while.

Edited by Nostalgia Nonce
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Frog Dreaming used to always be shown on BBC2. Did you watch it online or is it available on DVD?

Also from what I remember of it that poster / video cover has almost nothing to do with the film, gotta love 80s video art.

Edited by chokeout
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I don't remember it ever being on TV when I was young, although if it was billed as Frog Dreaming I probably wouldn't have realised it was the same film.

It was a bank holiday video rental, purely on that incredibly and creatively tenuously linked cover.

 

I had to wait for a very slow download of a VHS rip. I don't think there's a DVD release of it.

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