Scott Ott, Bill Whittle and Stephen Green star in an action film straight outa 1963. The effects will amaze, especially if you don’t get out much, nor have broadband access. Thanks to the Members who make Right Angle possible.
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Right Angle: Backstage (05-26-2020)
20 replies on “Right Angle: Backstage (05-26-2020)”
Crazy rich asians is set in Singapore. That should be obvious from even the ads. That’s why it was so important to take Kim there to show him that an asian country with no resources can get rich.
I noticed something else about Memorial Day, but a little late. There had been a bunch of stories on the “news” remembering those who have died from the ChiCom virus. I believe the NYT (a former newspaper) published the names of 1000 ChiCom virus fatalities. On Wednesday morning, mulling it all over in the shower (a great place to mull things over) This happened on Sunday and Monday, the Memorial Day weekend. I thought that Memorial Day was for remembering those in the military who made the ultimate sacrifice. I’m not sure I like the appropriation of MemDay for another purpose.
The French Connection chase scene was on MacDonald Ave in Brooklyn which was well known to me. With all those subway stanchions and alternating sunlight and shadows plus people and buses , it is harrowing in the best of conditions, you should try it on a black ice day.
Great fun.
When Scott talked about breathing his own exhaust… and enjoying some fresh air I could see a group of workers heading out for an air break instead of the smokers… I want to try one of those plastic sheet models… has to be better than the snug and scratchy ones…
To be honest… I wasn’t driving… my husband was and I was sorry to cut out early when called in to Shabbat dinner at my mother in law’s home…
If you start at 12:00… I can connect from my laptop…
shalom
What ever you were doing, we’re glad you were there. Look forward to seeing you again, Debra. Thank you for your Membership.
So looking forward to Scott’s segment.
SCOTT!! Another great line!!! …..”the payoff is that it ends.” Adding that to repertoire. I get so much out of your shows. Always good laughs.
I am going to make a separate blog post for “What and when was your first Amazon order?”
And yet, Scott, this show has remained popular for 10 some-odd years.
Die Hard was the first “modern” action film.
What about Rambo and all the representatives of that genre?
It’s been decades since I saw First Blood. And Rambo II is the only one I really remember. So I’m only going off memory here. The first one in ‘82 still had the pacing of the 70s. So you had a slow build up of characters and plot. Leading to a penultimate action scene. Basically still operating under the theory that you need to give the audience a chance to breathe. Die Hard is cited as the first film to really ignore that. It is constant action almost from the get-go. I think Alan Rickman takes over the tower something like 15 min into the film.
There’s also the irreverence of Bruce Willis (Yippie Kai Aye! and Welcome to the party, pal!) and the deadpan of Rickman that brought a level of comedy to the action you don’t have in the Rambos. Though Die Hard wasn’t the first, to do that.
I think what you have w/ Die Hard is a coming together of pacing, technical ability and attitude in a wildly popular film. And so it gets credited w/ being a seminal game-changer. I was thinking, maybe Lethal Weapon should get that credit. But thinking on it, even Lethal Weapon had long (by 1987 standards) calm scenes of dialogue/character development. Not that McTiernan couldn’t do character development. But he was able to do it w/ far less screen time or even during the action. A revelation for Hollywood at the time.
How would you fit Predator (1987) into that?
I just remember a long popularity throughout the 1980s of “beefcake movies” with your Schwarzeneggers and Stallones shooting people and blowing things up pretty much non-stop in movies with thin plots and little significant dialog.
Of course, a lot of the Wes Craven/John Carpenter horror movies might also fit the bill for fast pacing, constant action, thin plot, light dialogue, etc.
That “everything that could be invented has already been invented” quote came from the head of the US Patent Office when he was asked by a reporter for his thoughts about what we could expect from the upcoming 20th century (it was 1899).
And we still have those far-thinking bureaucrats with us today!
Great Backstage as always.
I’m always interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff in movies and TV, so the Aaron Sorkin idea of dialog as music was right up my alley. However, I thought, “too bad he liberally sprinkles such dissonant atonal garbage in there because of his political leanings.”
The “Dad, how do I” video will be great, although I’ll have to have a stack of handkerchiefs nearby. There are many sites that are after the conservative dollar but I chose you guys because of the heart and soul you bring to the content.
Sorkin is right. As a writer, reader, and musician, I’ve long understood this intuitively. It’s always a mystery to me how “bad writers” can sell so many books, and finally I realized that it’s because a lot of readers (as well as writers) have a tin ear.
One of the best examples of this is the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. When Peters died, her estate asked her longtime friend and award-winning mystery writer to finish her last book. This was someone who really should have understood the characters and the setting (archaeology in Egypt–she’d actually visited Egypt with Peters), but the book was AWFUL. The characters had long, boring, pedantic discussions that seemed gratuitous because they didn’t move the plot forward. There was no depth of understanding of the subject. (Granted, Peters had a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago from the 1950s, so it’s perhaps a little unfair to judge a mere mystery novel writer for a lack of depth.) In short, all of the things that made Peters’ writing enjoyable for me were missing. But the worst was the dialogue. There was no rhythm.
As a writer, rhythm may be the most important thing to me after grammar and punctuation. But how boring the world would be if everyone thought just like I do.
I have to say I am always interested in what you guys have to say about pretty much everything, mostly politics because you have critical thinking skills, but you never leave out humor. Tonight, I really appreciated Scott’s tearing up about the gentlemen on Youtube. I really like Right Angle Back Stage, and I appreciate the content here and you all sharing your experiences. Thank you and God Bless you Scott! Bill and Steve, God Bless you too!
The MSM ignoring the attack at Corpus Christi, the NY Times saying the US Army supports white supremacy. . . this is the leftist garbage we’ve come to expect. And it needs to be faced down.
But the “Dad, How Do I?” story sounds great, and a perfect subject for Scott.
I’m looking forward to it most.