3 quick stories: * Ever get embarrassed by a movie critics love? Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers was that film. Critics lost their loads praising it - with Ebert calling it, "some kind of masterpiece" - as if he HAD to like it. Ebert was a "people's critic," so I trusted him. It was awful. Afterwards, my wife asked, "Why would you pick a movie like this?" Should've taken that money and pigged out at Jack in the Box. Since then, I've never paid to see an Oliver Stone diatribe - and - I now go ALONE to screen pictures which get nominated for a lot of awards but have "trouble" written all over them. (Every awards season things get worse - with pics getting nominated that few will PAY to see.)
* The only time I fell asleep in a theater was while watching Lord of the Rings - Return of the King. It's a film people said you HAD to see but I could never get into Tolkien, and you know, fans say it's "literary" in a way "Star Wars" is not. I tried but couldn't make it. I drowsily left and the box office gave me a pass to return later. When it won 11 Oscars, tying Ben Hur and Titanic - I went back and hung tough, but I kept looking at my watch. Peter Jackson's Beatles "Get Back" movie was better, but I saw that in chunks like everyone else so its duration wasn't felt. * The only time I went with a GROUP to the movies - and one of us fell asleep for HOURS - was during DOUBLE-BILL of "Marooned" with "2001: A Space Odyssey." My brother was knocked out by boredom so we pranked him while he was asleep. Took an empty tub of popcorn and put it on his head - and then put an empty soft drink cup on top of that. He looked like a member of Devo in the dark. As an added touch, we rolled foil from Hostess Ding Dong wrappers and inserted two - one for each nostril. The dude NEVER woke up and we laughed so hard in a way that no sound was coming out. This went on forever. The hijinks were over when an "usher" - (yeah they really existed back in the day) - came by with his flashlight and said, "Hey, you punks knock it off or I'm gonna kick you out." Only then did my brother stir from his hibernation - and all of his "gear" fell to the floor. We were in stitches. But it gets better. He didn't realize he still had foil wrappers in his nose - and we didn't tell him, hence the paroxysms continued a bit longer. Good times. -d. ________________________________ From: MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> on behalf of Susan Heim <filmfantast...@msn.com> Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2022 3:23 PM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Subject: Re: Silent hills, please That's funny Scott. The first time I saw Fantasia was in college in about 1974. I fell asleep about 15 minutes in. I kept waking up every 20 minutes or so and tried desperately to keep my eyes open but to no avail. My best friend, who was my college roommate was a huge Disney fan and went on to be a Disney Imagineering Designer for 30 years and just retired. She still teases me about falling asleep during Fantasia as she considers it sacrelegious. I have to admit that the same thing happened to me for Star Wars. I went to the opening at Grauman's Chinese theater on Hollywood Blvd. We waited in line for hours. We finally got to the ticket booth and they had just sold the last ticket and the next showing was at like 4:00 in the morning. So, we sat down on the sidewalk. A few minutes later a couple came up to us and asked if we wanted to buy two tickets as they had bought two extras for their friends that never showed up. We jumped for joy went into the theater and got seated. The movie started and that beautiful John Williams music began and in the scene where Luke is flying the ship and there is no dialogue, I was gone.....Now, I love Star Wars and have since seen it many times.....but I totally get it on Fantasia. Sue Hollywood Poster Frames HollywoodPosters.com ________________________________ From: MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> on behalf of Scott Burns <sbu...@columbus.rr.com> Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2022 9:36 PM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU <MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> Subject: Re: [MOPO] Silent hills, please I’ll probably get some heat for this one, but…. Back in my younger days when I regularly patronized movie theaters there was only one time I ever got up and left a movie before its conclusion. The offending title? “Fantasia.” Yes Disney’s animation masterpiece. My sincere apologies to MoP’er (and Disney fan) wdposter AKA Martin May. 😊 Sorry, but it bored me silly. And I have no desire to ever try watching it again. I admit, I’m not a big animation fan and I don’t seek such titles out. But I don’t find viewing “Snow White” or “Pinocchio” to be painful like “Fantasia.” Now the paper on “Fantasia?” That’s a different story…very nice! So there’s that. P.S. A more recent “never want to see” title for me? I tried watching “Mank” on Netflix and gave up after 35 minutes. I have no desire to ever go back and (try) to finish it. Scott MoPo List Owner From: MoPo List <mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU> On Behalf Of Tommy Barr Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 6:32 AM To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU Subject: [MOPO] Silent hills, please Is there a film that you have made a decision that you never want to see, in the cinema , TV or any medium, even if the reason may be completely illogical? For me it is The Sound of Music. Tommy ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.american.edu%2Fscripts%2Fwa-american.exe%3FSUBED1%3DMoPo-L%26A%3D1&data=04%7C01%7C%7C0041bbd01a9e4e648db708d9d6ebc1b4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637777130327741485%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=4vW0BA0e5at3U9i9%2BheCXDDisarOAXQXmNHSQXAYeCY%3D&reserved=0> ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.american.edu%2Fscripts%2Fwa-american.exe%3FSUBED1%3DMoPo-L%26A%3D1&data=04%7C01%7C%7C0041bbd01a9e4e648db708d9d6ebc1b4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637777130327741485%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=4vW0BA0e5at3U9i9%2BheCXDDisarOAXQXmNHSQXAYeCY%3D&reserved=0> ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the MoPo-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.american.edu/scripts/wa-american.exe?SUBED1=MoPo-L&A=1<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.american.edu%2Fscripts%2Fwa-american.exe%3FSUBED1%3DMoPo-L%26A%3D1&data=04%7C01%7C%7C0041bbd01a9e4e648db708d9d6ebc1b4%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637777130327751440%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=jKy8vZ3ZWn0FXlSuXgYENSyIbDnMJxEyNbEkkAhO2ms%3D&reserved=0> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
