Movies, Movies, Movies!

Jerome Bixby's "the man from earth" talk about a mind blowing movie. This movie is mostly a conversation, great for examining how dialog can drive a story.
Here is the DVD description from Amazon
Renowned sci-fi writer Jerome Bixby penned the script for this thought-provoking film starring David Lee Smith as John Oldman, a college professor who reveals to his colleagues that he's actually a centuries-old caveman. And so begins a captivating philosophical meditation on immortality, the last work from screenwriter Bixby, who earned career accolades for his contributions to such genre-defining shows as "Star Trek" and "The Twilight Zone

 

Exploring human immortality from age is very interesting. What if geniuses like Einstein lived forever and graced us with inventions, but I guess it goes both ways, dictators would rule until they were assassinated.

A very interesting theme nonetheless that I love, I have it in my main universe.

 

I love this movie and I'm glad to know it's appreciated by others. What a great idea for a story.

 

I love the very logical way he counters the various questions trying to poke holes in the story. Masterful.

 

Holy crap! Mind still reeling.



John Carpenter at one time wanted to make an adaptation of The Creature From the Black Lagoon, with Lovecraftian tie-ins. In the course of this video the presenter mentions that both Alien and The Thing have strong Lovecraftian elements in them. Carpenter was indirectly involved in Alien via his directing (or co-directing) Dark Star with Dan O'Bannon, which essentially served as the template for and in a sense became Alien.

Now I want to watch his videos about Lovecraftian elements in both of those movies. I dislike his use of pseudo-Tik Tok style jump scare tactics or whatever you call them, where the editing suddenly cuts to somebody screaming with some stupid visuals, but the info is pure gold.

Here's his video about the Lovecraftian ties in Alien and The Thing:



The main thing he gets wrong—that just about everybody gets wrong—is to ascribe Lovecraft's racism as nothing but racism. He said that ultimately Lovecraft's terrifying "other" is the racial other. And yes, he did express it that way in his life as well as his work. Modern shallow politics does the same thing. But if you take it that next step, it's a psychological fear of your own shadow—both individually and collectively—which often in dreams is expressed by people of another race. Just as the writhing alien monstrosites are depictions of the shadow, so are our racial fears and prejudices. They're the mind reaching for a symbol of the other, of something significantly different and yet in many ways uncannily familiar. After all, the uncanny is by definition "The familiar made unfamiliar."

 

I saw Christine (1983) and I loved it! There's just something fun, satisfying, and non-demanding about a revenge horror centered around a possessed car. I loved how "she" had so much personality in the film. I wonder if there are any other light '80s popcorn flicks like this you guys would recommend.

 

The first thing that comes to mind is Night of the Comet, but that's probably because the girl in it looks a lot like the girl in Christine, and I had massive crushes on both of them. But it does fit the bill of light 80's popcorn flick, and it's quite enjoyable I think. An interesting take on the zombie apocalypse. Looks like it's Free with Ads on Youtube.

Another one would be Carrie, but that's probably because the title is a girl's name that starts with a C. I mean, it's horror, but then so is Christine. Oh, and Carrie is also from a Stephen King book, same as Christine.

 

Definitely Carrie, the girl picked on by the popular kids gets revenge in the end.
As for other light 80's movies Police academy, and Revenge of the nerds come to mind.

 

All that, and Travolta too! How could you lose?

 

Oh Tremors! Definitely Tremors! A classic.

 

only marginally related, but Fatal Attraction is a great movie from the 80s, especially for entertainment.

 

I watched this movie, I totally agree with your comment. It has the quality of a play, and it helps focus on the dialogue as a writer.

 

Thanks for all the '80s movies recommendations guys! I watched Carrie a long while ago, but the other suggestions are really appreciated. I see we've got comedies and dramas too. Nice variety! A few I remember hearing of but have never seen.

 

I like that movie.

 

Looks like that one's free on Amazon Prime, I might watch it tonight.

Another one I really enjoy that not many people know about is The Gate:

 

Let's not forget on of the best horror comedies from that decade. "Evil Dead"

 

Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson? A great movie!

 

True, but I would hardly call it a light popcorn flick. It's brutal!

 

But it does a great balancing act between brutal and comedic

 

Evil Dead 2 is actually better.

 

Yes, but it also had a bigger budget.

 

Yes but the third one had the biggest budget and sucked!

 

I thought the third one was funny. But it did not rise nearly to the level of ED2.

 

It kind of turned into a muppet movie.