Movie Advent Calendar

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Mixtape Movies – Cover Songs

Inspired by the idea of cover songs, I have gone a little from my own brief of movies that fit together concentrating more on memorable remakes, but like a true mixtape they still sort of fit. I have excluded films where I haven’t seen both versions so Tony Scott Man On Fire (2004) misses out as I haven’t seen Elie Chouraqui’s 1987 Original, the same goes for The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) as I haven’t seen Roy Del Ruth’s 1931Original. I also excluded directors remaking their own movies so no Heat (Michael Mann, 1995), The Man Who Knew Too Much (Alfred Hitchcock, 1956) or The Ten Commandments(Cecil B. DeMille 1923) all miss out. What we get is six very different movies across at least five genres:

Airplane! (Jim Abrams, David Zucker & Jerry Zucker, 1980) an interesting inclusion on the mixtape; the original Zero Hour (Hall Bartlett, 1957) has basically the same plot (and even some of the same dialogue) but is a straight disaster movie, the remake is comedy classic thanks to perfect deadpan delivery and some great sight-gags.

A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964) the original samurai movie Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961) is a true classic, not only is it A Fistful of Dollars its equal, but it also turned Clint Eastwood from a TV actor into a moviestar. Despite settling a plagiarism suit with Akira Kurosawa, MGM/United Artists have never actually acknowledged that Dollars is a remake of Yojimbo.

Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995): Strickly speaking Terry Gilliam’s Sci-Fi classic is inspired by rather than a remake of La Jetée (La Jet?e, Chris Baker, 1962) but I will take any excuse to recommend both movies. For those who don’t know, La Jetée is made up of a series of stills accompanied by a haunting voiceover.

Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001): Ocean’s Eleven (Lewis Milestone, 1960) is a classic 60’s Rat Pack caper movie, except there is a problem, it isn’t very good. Not only is Soderbergh’s remake a lot funnier and a lot more fun than the original but it has a cast including: George Clooney. Brad Pitt. Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Andy Garcia and Elliott Gould.

The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982): Question: Was the 2011 movie The Thing a remake or a sequel, Answer, who cares it was rubbish! The original, The Thing From Another World (Christian Nyby, 1951) is well worth a look if you havent seen it, but the 1982 John Carpenter version is a classic.

Wild Card, the wild card is King Kong (Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933). Forget the numerous sequels and the 1976 and 2005 remakes (directed by John Guillermin and Peter Jackson respectively) and go for the classic stop motion original starring Fay Wray.

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Mixtape Movies – Trouble in Mind

Three weeks to go until the Mixtape Movies blogathon as promised I plan to post one Mixtape of my own each week until the 22nd, here is number two.

A group of films that are vividly beautiful in their own way but share an unreal otherworldliness, sometimes because of their setting others because of their dreamlike quality. Some of the movies you will all know, hopefully like all great mixtapes there will be a few surprises:

Streets of Fire (1984) directed by Walter Hill: Singer, Ellen Aim (Diane Lane) is kidnapped by a biker gang (led by Willem Dafoe) while performing a benefit concert in her rundown hometown. The police won’t do anything so its left to her ex Tom Cody (Michael Paré) and her nerdy manager (Rick Moranis) to rescue her.

The Dead Can’t Lie aka Gotham (1988) directed by Lloyd Fonvielle: New York detective Eddie Mallard (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired by a wealthy businessman to stop his ex-wife (Virginia Madsen) from harassing him, things get weird why he discovers she has been dead for ten years. It was actually made for TV but don’t let that stop you, it’s a great atmospheric noir thriller.

The Isle original Korean title “Seom” (2000) directed by Ki-duk Kim: A man on the run hides out on a floating fishing hut in the Korean wilderness. He forms a difficult relationship with the mute woman who rented the hut and looks after the fishermen.

Mud (2012) directed by Jeff Nichols: A newer pick than the others, so new you may still catch it in UK cinemas. Two young teenage boys find fugitive living in a boat stranded in a tree on a river island. They agree to help him despite the obvious dangers.

Trouble in Mind (1985) directed by Alan Rudolph: Rather than a plot synopsis I will just tell you a little about the cast: Hawk (Kris Kristofferson) a former cop fresh out of prison for murder, Wanda (Geneviève Bujold) a diner owner and Hawk’s ex-lover, Coop (Keith Carradine) and Georgia (Lori Singer) a penniless young couple with a baby, Hilly Blue (a rare none drag performance from Divine) a mob boss.

Wildcard pick – Lost In Translation (2003) directed by Sofia Coppola: All the movies have an underlying story involving crime except the wildcard: What is left to say about Lost In Translation? Well firstly, as hard as is to believe, it will be ten years old later this year. If you love it as much as I do, its time to watch it again. If you don’t like it, its time to give it a second chance.

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Mixtape Movies – Fandango

As promised I am posting a Mixtape Movies each week to give you an idea of what I have planned. For this first one as well as the final post I am going to quickly run through the process as it may help anyone unsure of what I was thinking.

I thought it would be fun to start with the movie that gave my blog its title: Fandango. Set over a single day during a time of transition for the young characters, Dazed and Confused and American Graffiti were obvious choices. I quickly added Stand By Me involving a younger group of friends. The journey they were on seemed appropriate to fandango and with Richard Dreyfuss it shares an interesting link to American Graffiti where he plays a similar character at a different time in his life.

For my final pick I was going to go for the quintessential high school movie; The Breakfast Club. I discounted it as a contemporary film and not a nostalgic one. It is also set indoors in winter where all the others are set outdoors in summer. I then considered: Animal House, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Say Anything, Rebel Without A Cause, The Last Picture Show, Rushmore and Risky Business. Discounting all of these for one reason or another I went back to The Breakfast Club because it just fits, and that’s what matters in a mixtape. As we are translating an idea from music to movies, I have also lent towards movies with memorable music.

Finally my wildcard movie: Big Wednesday. Where all the other movies are set over a day or two Big Wednesday is set over a period of years and shows the transition not just the turning point in the life of the characters. So here is my first Movie Mixtape:

Stand By Me (1996) directed by Rob Reiner – Labor Day weekend, September 1959, four friends set off on a journey to find the body of a missing boy.

The Breakfast Club (1985) directed by John Hughes – A diverse group of kids attend a Saturday detention. What at first appears to be a simple tale of teenage rebellion against authority figures actually turns into a movie about acceptance and understanding.

Dazed and Confused (1993) directed by Richard Linklater – May 1976, It’s the last day of school in an Austin, Texas suburb. The following years seniors split their time between planning for a party that night and hazing the incoming freshman.

American Graffiti (1973) directed by George Lucas – August 1962, two high school graduates spend their last night cruising the strip in their small California town before they are due to fly off to collage.

Fandango (1985) directed by Kevin Reynolds – May 1971, a group of students set out on a final road trip from their fraternity house in Austin, Texas to the Mexican border on southwest Texas

Wildcard movie:

Big Wednesday (1978) directed by John Milius – Set over twelve years from 1962 to 1974, the life of a group of surfing friends is told against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

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Mixtape Movies

Its been a long time since my last Blogathon, many people reading this will have read or taken part in A Life in Movies, My Movie Year or Desert Island DVDs. Like my first blogathon “Desert Island DVDs” my latest idea takes an existing idea and applying it movies.

Some of you, like me will be old enough to remember mix tapes. For those that aren’t, there was time not that long ago where they were commonplace. Put simply a mixtape is a collection of songs on a compact audio cassette. In practice they were, or indeed are so much more than that. Compiled for one’s own pleasure or to give to someone else, a mixtape is an art form in itself, they certainly says something about the compiler.

Mixtapes are most relevant when shared, to give someone a collection of songs, some they will know, others they don’t but will come to love is a true gift. The best mixes are of songs that are completely unconnected but fit together perfectly. So how does this translate to movies? The idea behind Mixtape Movies is to compile a list of movies that fit together. There are no hard and fast rules but here are my guidelines:

A selection of movies with no direct connection (star, director, source material) but that fit together or compliment each other.

Around six movies, five plus one wildcard (a movie that doesn’t quite fit but still belongs).

An idea on format: A paragraph explaining the theme of the mix, a list of the selected movies with an image, poster or trailer. You may also chose to write a sentence or two on each individual film. If you want to get creative design some cover art.

Unlike previous Blogathons the mixtapes are not definitive personal lists, they are just small expressions of creativity in linking the movies. Therefore participants are welcome to submit numerous mixtapes if they wish.

I will post a homepage with a link to all participants on 22nd June. Anyone wishing to join in send me an email: fandangogroovers@gmail.com please include this link to the homepage on an Mixtape posts: http://wp.me/prVbF-2T4

To give you an idea of what i have planned I will post a Mixtape Movies each week until the 22nd.  

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