Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[Macca]

I watched it for the first time about 10 years ago. I remember when I was at school when it was first showed some of the arty kids in 6th form used to discuss it the next day and I thought it was just pretentious shite.

I saw it first time round (age 20) and that was my conclusion too. Not seen it since but I doubt I'd change my mind.

[struth]

Two Way Stretch, 1960...



good Sellers' vehicle this. Lionel Jeffries is great too..

[Mikeandvan]

I watched it for the first time about 10 years ago. I remember when I was at school when it was first showed some of the arty kids in 6th form used to discuss it the next day and I thought it was just pretentious shite. Also when Das Boot the series was aired I thought who'd want to watch foreign language series with loads of blokes stuck in a boat for hours. I loved war films at the time but that was too much. Now I love them both.

Damn those arty 6th formers, Smiths fans all of them! So funny to see Morrisey turning out to be a bit of a patriot, in their eyes a nasty racist, love it!

[struth]

Total Recall, 1990..



Arnold Schwarzenegger noticed that Michael Ironside was constantly on the phone between takes. When he broached the subject with Ironside, he was told that he was phoning his sister and that she was currently suffering from cancer. Arnold immediately brought Michael to his trailer and they had an hour-long, three-way conversation with Ironside's sister about what exercises she should do and what kinds of foods she should be eating. Ironside has never forgotten Schwarzenegger's kindness and neither has his sister.

When Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon first started working on the screenplay for this movie back in the 1970s, they realized that the movie would probably be too expensive and difficult to make (by the standards of special effects and budget at the time). They delayed working on the story and instead worked on an idea O'Bannon had about a space monster terrorizing a spaceship crew. This became Alien (1979).

[struth]

The Terminator, 1984..




For the role of Kyle Reese, Orion wanted a star whose popularity was rising in the United States but who also would have foreign appeal. Orion co-founder Mike Medavoy had met Arnold Schwarzenegger and sent his agent the script for The Terminator. Cameron was uncertain about casting Schwarzenegger as Reese as he felt he would need someone even more famous to play the Terminator. Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson both turned down the Terminator role. The studio suggested O. J. Simpson but Cameron did not feel that Simpson, at that time, would be believable as a killer.

Cameron agreed to meet with Schwarzenegger and devised a plan to avoid casting him; he would pick a fight with him and return to Hemdale and find him unfit for the role. However, Cameron was entertained by Schwarzenegger, who would talk about how the villain should be played. Cameron began sketching his face on a notepad and asked Schwarzenegger to stop talking and remain still. After the meeting, Cameron returned to Daly saying Schwarzenegger would not play Reese but that "he'd make a hell of a Terminator"

[struth]

Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991...




Robert Patrick undertook a rigorous running regime and practiced breathing only through his nose, in order to appear to be a cyborg that could run at high speeds without showing fatigue. He had trained so hard that he was able to catch up to Edward Furlong on his dirt bike with ease.

The effect of the T-1000 freezing and breaking up was achieved by filming shots of an amputee fitted with prosthetic, and of Robert Patrick with his real limbs buried underneath the set. Clever editing makes the effect appear almost seamless.

Carolco studio executives were nervous and concerned when the original budget of US $75 million ballooned up to US $88 million, with more to come. In order to keep the budget manageable, they proposed to eliminate a few scenes, particularly the opening biker bar scene where The Terminator is introduced. They tried to get Arnold Schwarzenegger to persuade James Cameron to remove that scene, but Schwarzenegger turned them down, saying, "Only a studio guy would cut a scene out like that."

Arnold Schwarzenegger was given a slightly used Gulfstream III airplane (worth about US $14 million) by producer Mario Kassar, for accepting the role in this film.

[Mikeandvan]

Original Terminator was a classic, couldn't imagine anyone else but Arnie playing it. His opposite number was also a good choice, same actor that was in Aliens.

[Roy S]

Mindless violence on a bank holiday Monday, yeah.

[struth]

A New Leaf, 1971..

[Macca]

'Hawk The Slayer' (1980)

Classic UK sword and sorcery epic - originally straight to video trash but now a cult film due to a whole load of reasons including the early synth soundtrack and the fact that it falls into the rarest category of films - those that are so bad that they're good.

Was intended to be a ''Medieval 'Fistful of Dollars' '' and it sort of is.