Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[struth]

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, 2011.

[Jonboy]

Tonight's movie

[struth]

Pulp Fiction, 1994. directed by Quentin Tarantino.






In the diner, when Mia orders her five dollar shake, Buddy Holly (the waiter, Steve Buscemi) asks her if she wants it "Martin and Lewis or Amos and Andy?" He is referring to two comedy duos, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, two white men; The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951), two black men. Basically, he is asking her if she wants a vanilla shake or a chocolate shake. She has vanilla.

[walpurgis]

Pulp Fiction, 1994. directed by Quentin Tarantino

A movie that leaves a huge impression. Each time I see it, I still think WOW! at the end.

[struth]

A movie that leaves a huge impression. Each time I see it, I still think WOW! at the end.

Its hard to imagine what he could have done to improve it. Ving Rhames as the drugs boss is superb.

[struth]

Now, John Carpenter's, The Thing, 1982.





The opening title attempts to replicate the appearance of the original Howard Hawks film. To create the effect of the title, an animation cell with "The Thing" written on it was placed behind a smoke-filled fish tank which was covered with a plastic garbage bag. The bag was ignited, creating the effect of the title burning onto the screen.

When the dog wanders down a hallway and pauses outside a door, we see a shadow of one of the men, beckoning it in. John Carpenter wanted it to be mysterious which character was involved, so didn't use any of his actors to cast the shadow.

John Carpenter comments that one of the bush pilots used on the film offered to crash one of the helicopters for money. When MacReady and Dr. Copper go to visit the Norwegian camp via helicopter, the bush pilot actually turned the controls over to Kurt Russell once the chopper was off the ground. If you watch the shot you see the 'copter actually wobble - that's Russell taking the controls.

[walpurgis]

Now, John Carpenter's, The Thing, 1982

Another unforgettable film!

[Lawrence001]

Yes great film but I recall the poster being different to that.

[struth]

A bit lighter now with the John Huston 1951 classic... The African Queen.




Humphrey Bogart hated Africa immediately and was miserable, but Katharine Hepburn adored it, calling it "utterly divine." Bogie complained about everything: the heat, the humidity, the dangers, the food. He recalled, "While I was griping, Katie was in her glory. She couldn't pass a fern or berry without wanting to know its pedigree, and insisted on getting the Latin name for everything she saw walking, swimming, flying or crawling. I wanted to cut our ten-week schedule, but the way she was wallowing in the stinking hole, we'd be there for years."

To show her disgust with the amount of alcohol that John Huston and Humphrey Bogart consumed during filming, Katharine Hepburn drank only water. As a result, she suffered a severe bout of dysentery.

[struth]

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, 2003. directed by the great Peter Weir.





During the film's pre-production, the replica of Captain James Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour, was circumnavigating the globe. The production was able to fly 2 cameramen to the ship as it was about to sail round the bottom of South America; a route the HMS Surprise takes in the film. Thus, the footage of the stormy seas from that part of the voyage is genuine. The Endeavour sailors were used in costumes kept on board for displays.

The toast to "wives and sweethearts (may they never meet)" is the traditional toast for Saturdays in the Royal Navy.