WELCOME to the Messageboard for the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival and Marathon!!
FULL LINEUP! Note Order: THE MATRIX in 35mm! ONE MILLION YEARS BC in 35mm! LAPSIS, READY PLAYER ONE in 70mm! DREDD, MAD MAX, PREDESTINATION, TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN (aka INVASION), UPGRADE, ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, DEEP BLUE SEA in 35mm! and BLAST FROM THE PAST. Plus! A bonus surprise! And, of course, Duck Dodgers! More to come
SF MARATHON INFO LINKS
SF/49 Official Information Page Click here
Reactions to 2024's SF/49 lineup? POST here
>List of ALL Films that have played the Marathon. Click below
Click here for The History Of The Marathon/Festival

The Next Marathon will be held Presidents' Day Weekend 2024 at the Somerville Theater.
It will be preceded by the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival. For ticket info: www.Bostonsci-fi.com


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SF 42 reaction thread (Read 14160 times)
Feb 21st, 2017 at 10:04am

L.A. Connection   Offline
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Despite a  few bumps and a couple of questionable films I thought it was darn terrific
 
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Reply #1 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 1:44pm

Caleb451   Offline
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I concur.
Although I'll never understand the mind that decided our time was better spent being subjected to the travesty that is "Paper Mache Boulders..." instead of a fine film like "Midnight Special".
 

Dinner break? What's a dinner break?
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Reply #2 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 2:00pm

Joe Neff   Offline
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For the second straight year, finances (or a lack thereof) made it impossible for me to make the trek up north. But I tried to keep up with a few of the titles. I enjoyed NEITHER HEAVEN NOR EARTH, but as I suspect, did it kill the audience in the middle of the night?
 
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Reply #3 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 2:25pm

kirok   Offline
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where does one go for reviews, rants, plot hole rages? the hashtags and the facebook page are relatively barren.
oh how I miss the glory days of the messageboard.
is the old messageboard truly lost on a crashed disk?
 

PANTS UP. DON'T LOOT.
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Reply #4 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 3:06pm

L.A. Connection   Offline
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THIS is the place Kirok. Rant on

I agree with Caleb. We have to stop assuming that any movie made by sci-fi nerds for sci-fi nerds is worthy of showing.

Joe, NEITHER isn't a bad movie  (although I don't get the high praise), but it IS a bad marathon movie. Whoever recommended it either hadn't seen it or had a very poor understanding of our audience
 
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Reply #5 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 7:22pm

da_Bunnyman   Offline
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Was really a nice lineup this year.
TimeCrime was a pleasant surprise, not what I thought it'd be but really well done on a low budget but really cool to watch the plot unfold.
Paper Mache Boulder might've made an okay short but as a full length feature it was really horrid. Plus the Kiwi accents made it almost need subtitles at some points.
Slept through Neither Heaven Nor Earth but my friend said it had no SF content.

We going to do complete film by film reviews here or start a separate thread?
 

I can't complain but sometimes I still do. Life's been good to me so far.
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Reply #6 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 7:23pm

Dinsdale   Offline
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Slept through Neither, and found out I had made a good choice. What I saw of the Giant yadayada made me glad I slept through most of it as well. Reminded me of many past failures in the "Sci-Fi spoof" genre- TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD comes to mind.
 
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Reply #7 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 7:28pm

L.A. Connection   Offline
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da_Bunnyman wrote on Feb 21st, 2017 at 7:22pm:
Was really a nice lineup this year.
TimeCrime was a pleasant surprise, not what I thought it'd be but really well done on a low budget but really cool to watch the plot unfold.
Paper Mache Boulder might've made an okay short but as a full length feature it was really horrid. Plus the Kiwi accents made it almost need subtitles at some points.
Slept through Neither Heaven Nor Earth but my friend said it had no SF content.

We going to do complete film by film reviews here or start a separate thread? 


By all means start the film by film reviews. I will post MINE in a day or two
 
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Reply #8 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 8:38pm

Frank   Offline
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We could have done with one or two entries from the 60's and 70's. Boulder was a waste of a slot. These awful send-ups of old movies/tv shows need to end. Neither Heaven nor Earth was an interesting movie, although the high praise is unwarranted. It is not sf in the least and should not have been there. Orher than these blups, it was an amazingly fun time.
 

I bring you peace. It may be the peace of plenty and content or the peace of unburied death.
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Reply #9 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 9:07pm

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great thon!!!!

really really good lineup. seeing fury road in black and white on the big screen was totally incredible!!!!

i was pleasantly surprised by the rocketeer, and though i liked galaxy quest the first time i saw it, i forgot how good it is!

i love creature from the black lagoon, great choice. predator rules, great choice.

the french movie i think i would've liked in different circumstances, but i kept waiting for them to fight the monster, and then the credits were rolling.

i can't think of any circumstances where i would've liked the paper mache movie. it was really really bad. it wasn't even "good for what it is", it was straight up not enjoyable. if you make a movie about unlikeable people trapped in a real-life bad movie, it's going to result in a bad movie. it's simple math!

i hated all the characters in john dies, which made me start to hate the filmmakers, but it was at least soundly constructed, and the monsters looked good.

i love how the thon tends to end on a big fun action movie- tremors was dynamite.

gattaca was good. i had seen it before, and i was getting hungry so i skipped the first half to get that same shitty burrito at anna's that i get every year.

as a hitchhiker's guide fan, i have to say that the movie is not good- it's fun to see stuff from the books, but they tried to fit in too much stuff and didn't do a good job explaining any of it. if you already read the books, i think it's fun. luckily most of the thon crowd probably read the books?

time crimes is perfect. one of the few completely perfect time travel movies. there was a brief altercation in the crowd during this movie, the first time i've seen actual bad vibes in ten years of going to the thon. i guess one person dropped a spoiler loudly? not cool... both sides: not cool.

i was happy to see 2 alan arkin movies, 2 with tony shaloub,  2 with alan rickman, and 2 with sam rockwell. were there any other doubles? any triples?

i liked the use of buttons for the hand stamp! very nice!

i missed some of the rigamarole of previous fests- i'm not sure what's up with major tom but i miss his speeches, the reading of the rules, stuff like that.

i like that part of the thon tradition is garen busting his ass to get some movie that was still in transit or somehow delayed-- initially it was to get prints fed exed for an early morning show, now it's to get a digital encryption key. "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"

very happy to see david the projectionist make a vitriolic speech. love that guy. you're the best, david!

i used to not like the alien mating call and the tin foil hat contest, but now i like them. i might make a hat next year. you have to wear the hat the whole time, right?

looking forward to thon 43!!!! excelsior or whatever!

 
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Reply #10 - Feb 21st, 2017 at 10:46pm

da_Bunnyman   Offline
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Okay, here goes my movie by movie SF42 breakdown.

Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy- good stater, not perfect but still pretty funny becuase it's based on such good material. Actually seems to have improved with age too.

Galaxy Quest-God, this movie just has so much heart especially to folks who are into conventions. Funny and touching and with a message to genre actors that you don't have to live your role but respect what it may mean to people. 

The Creature From The Black Lagoon- Still classic and great seeing it on the big screen again. But why did it have to have a character called MARK!

Gattaca- Really good drama/film noir. Always have one problem with it, the fact the main character has a heart fluctuation of some kind while on the treadmill test indicating maybe he should not be going into space.

Mad Max Fury Road- Even better in B&W. So much action and so little CGI.

Brazil- Always something new to catch when I watch this. So many details you notice something new every time, this time especially was the apartment number 42.

TimeCrime- A nice surprise, a well plotted little film that is a lot of fun to watch unfold as the puzzle pieces come together.

John Dies At The End- So weird.

Neither Heaven Nor Earth- Skipped it for some sleep.

Predator- Hadn't seen this since it's original release. still stands up well.

This Giant Paper Mache etc- Bad, really bad, just wanted it to end.

The Rocketeer- I'm a big fan of the comic and even without having Betty Page as the hero's girlfriend it's a pretty good adaption.

Tremors- Again had not seen this in awhile and it's stood up well and is still a lot of fun.

Special thanks to Frank for making the goodie bags even goodie-er this year.
And also Garen and all the marathoids for making the event so much fun.

Really wish we had longer breaks between films.

On to SF43.

Happy Trails To You (all) 
 

I can't complain but sometimes I still do. Life's been good to me so far.
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Reply #11 - Feb 22nd, 2017 at 10:56pm

Drew   Offline
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Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy- I really hated this when it first came out, mainly because I am a huge fan of Douglas Adams and the original radio series and it was Just Wrong to me. But after seeing it for the second time, I could find some things to like, especially the way the Guide graphics echo the TV version

Galaxy Quest is a  modern classic. Not really much more to say

at this point, my 'thon diverges.. I spent a few chunks of time downstairs in the screening room watching things I'd missed during the previous 10 days.

I don't think what Garen said about the shorts this year was hype, they were all really strong.

Caught the end of Creature From The Black Lagoon and the beginning of Gattaca in between watching short films, and leaving to get some food, and then...

Virtual Revolution - a reasonably good festival film about a future where a lot of the population is a sort of virtual underclass spending all their time plugged into VR worlds, and a group
trying to force the games offline and get people back in the real world. Nothing great but engaging

and then I got to see the one film from the Festival I most wanted to (apparently the disk didn't work when they tried to show it, but it worked in the microcinema blu-ray, go figure)
OMG, I'm a Robot. Israeli, in Hebrew with English subtitles. I liked this a lot, really funny kind of screwball comedy about a nerdy teen who finds out .. well, guess. It starts with a pretty well-tread sort of romantic plot but the story keeps taking weird turns and keeps you guessing

Totally missed Mad Max Fury Road, it's ok, but the black and white would have put me off

caught the end of Brazil --- there are what, four versions of this? I never know how it's gonna end Smiley

also while in the screening room I spent some time talking to Dan Kimmel, who was telling me that
he really liked TimeCrimes .. so I was a bit surprised to enjoy that less than anything else in the 'thon, or the whole festival, for that matter. Yes, the plot mechanics are kind of neat, but I can't get past how utterly creepy and unlikeable the protagonist is. It made my skin crawl. Thinking mainly of the second iteration acting out the weird assault he witnessed himself doing because.. no reason other than that's what he saw happen.

John Dies At The End- I'm not sure that it made any sense, but the characters made it for me.

I was drifting in and out a bit during Neither Heaven Nor Earth and Predator. I'd never seen the latter and it was neat to see the cloaking effects in a movie that early

This Giant Paper Mache... I really loved this movie. Perfect example of how to write your way around a tiny budget.

The Rocketeer- Another old-ish one that I'd never seen. Fun to see John Locke, I mean, Terry O'Quinn and Dalton chewing scenery at each other.

overall, I thought the lineup was really strong, but I still wish there were more trailers or other things between the movies.. I understand that there was a certain amount of time pressure (I overheard David saying that's why Wizard of Speed and Time was dropped)

 
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Reply #12 - Feb 23rd, 2017 at 5:28pm

L.A. Connection   Offline
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As I posted before, this year's edition was darn good despite some bumps in the road, particularly during the wee hours. I thought the crowd was good, the Somerville staff went above and beyond (read: those bumps) and damn was it nice to go outside with just a shirt!

One thing that I hope is addressed next year is cell phone usage. I understand we are locked away from home for 24 hours+. Things happen. Family and friends must be kept in contact with. We want social media interaction.
BUT
, there is a time and place. We have breaks between films (admittedly too short). There is a very nice lobby and cool hangs in Davis Square. One or two quick exchanges during a movie is one thing, but, there are folks who seem to want to do a live blogging during the event. Others, 'check out' of a movie and decide it's time to cruise the internets to look at cat videos. I saw more than one or two folks playing video games. If you don't wanna watch the #$#!ing movie - go to the far back of auditorium, or, better yet, out of it completely.

Rant over. On to the flicks:

TRAILERS - All hail Bruce Bartoo from our Ohio sister 'thon. I really really want to have a way to get these shown during the main event - showing them while folks are trickling in doesn't do them justice
IN MEMORIUM - Great effort, but, still far too long. I'd like to see a short version at the 'thon and post the 'Director's cut' online
Rocky Horror Sing-A-Long - Believe me, I tried for years and years to get ROCKY HORROR shown at the thon. I think it would have went over well in the early 80s. But, as witnessed by the half-hearted response here - that ship has sadly sailed.  Cry

DUCK DODGERS - It just wouldn't be the 'thon without it!!

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY- I was lukewarm on this when it came out, and it's still not much more than okay. It's very much one of those films where the subplots and asides are more compelling than the main storyline. The biggest problem remains Sam Rockwell seemingly channeling Luke Wilson. He's irrating more than amusing or interesting. Nice supporting cast and the Alan Rickman double bill was a nice tribute. It did make for some amusing parallels with the current presidency. A future double feature with IDIOCRACY? Pretty good 35mm print with strong colors.

GALAXY QUEST - One of the very rare Spoof / Tribute movies that really works. It actually gets better upon repeated viewings, which is no small feat for a 'one joke' premise. The casting, dialogue and SFX all work. The film seems engineered for the marathon - and it hits the target almost every time. Maybe, too on target for a certain Shatner!  Wink In its own cock-eyed way, this may well be the best "Star Trek" movie yet made. Another good solid 35mm film projection. Kudos to DDK for amping up the brightness of the bulbs to give us the full rich celluloid look!!

Alien Mating Cry - Took a bit to get a few contestants, but a decent diversion

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON - A solid 50s monster movie favorite with a couple of caveats: 1. Too bad that for technical reasons we couldn't show this in 3D - it would have added something to the show. 2. Pissed off that there were a number of chowderheads who decided to act like a-holes and hurl "wise"-cracks early and often throughout its running time. A genre classic deserves better. MUCH better. The creature costume is a marvel, and so much more effective than many a fully CGI monster of today.

GATTACA - Initially sloughed off as an okay sci-fi entry, the acclaim for this film grows and grows. It is now one of the 90s' most beloved. If I have a major quibble it is with the murder mystery which both takes up too much screen-time -- and isn't very much of a mystery. Quibble aside, the genetics themes are a cogent as ever. And, Michael Nyman's score is one of the best of all time. And, I've always truly loved the little grace note at the end when the lab tech (Xander Berkeley, an actor I've worked with and always enjoy seeing on screen) winks at Ethan Hawke indicating he's known his secret all along. Brings a tear to my eye every time. Even bigger tears for me was how crappy the digital copy (Blu Ray) looked - all washed out, lacking color saturation and no sound presence. An atrocity the studio should be ashamed of.

MAD MAX FURY ROAD - CHROME EDITION - Not sure why it wasn't announced in advance that this was the version being shown, but most of the audience seemed to dig it. I suggested it to Garen since I figured most of the 'thon attendees had seen the original version, but not this one. I can see why George Miller says its his preferred version, but the color one is still definitive. A 2nd viewing hasn't changed my opinion much. As I wrote upon release: "The plot isn't much: Some beaten up dude meets an Amazon who is leading her truckload of Playboy Bunnies away from an evil warlord. Repeat for 120 (admittedly thrilling) minutes." I still think the 'let's turn around and go the other way!' plan is high near ridiculous, it's my least favorite of the Mad Max series (admittedly a high bar), and that as fine an actor as Tom Hardy is -- he ain't no Mel in this role. This DCP was smashing, showing the good side of digital.

Tin Foil Hat Contest - This has supplanted our old Costume contest - and, the entries show real effort.

BRAZIL - Terry Gilliam's dark, deft and dazzling take on Orwell's 1984 is as eye-popping as ever, and shows off practical effects in a most positive manner in a pre-CGI world. Pretty sure this was the 'Director's Cut' as it does drag on a bit, especially towards the end.

Nina Unlocked - A decent short. A sort of 'What happens next' to the movie EX MACHINA. It's pretty good if necessarily incomplete as it is part of a web series: http://www.recursor.tv/nina-unlocked/

TIMECRIMES - A clever low budget time travel flick. Still, I was a bit disappointed considering the high praise in some quarters terming it one of the best time travel movies ever (and even triggering talk of an American remake). The premise works well enough with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting, and time elements seemed to have been worked out well enough even if I haven't done a deep dive into mapping it out (sounds like a Homework assignment for one of you out there!  Wink). There is one major plot convenience we all have to accept: We're supposed to believe that a semi-competent weekend lab tech who hasn't tested the time travel unit to be able to precisely time the intercept point for each of Hector's alternate versions. Still, a decent flick if you don't have huge expectations. The DVD projection looked awful. A poor transfer combined with a low budget production is a bad combo on the big screen.

JOHN DIES AT THE END - Let's face it, Don Coscarelli (PHANTASM, BEASTMASTER) isn't known for his tight logical screenplays! JOHN is no exception, but, for the first half or so I went along for the ride with the Rave party gone real real bad premise. But, it got wearying after a while. Whatever 'story' it had seemed to be just ideas thrown randomnly at the screen. Speaking of random, the wrap-around story with Paul Giamatti never really pays off, either. It just seemed constructed so that Coscarelli could get a 'name' attached to sell his largely straight to video enterprise. You will notice that all of Giamatti's scenes take place in and around the dinner, likely all shot in one day (maybe part of two at most). It also seemed like Coscarelli was trying to outdo Sam Raimi circa the Evil Dead films.

NEITHER HEAVEN NOR EARTH - It's not a bad movie, but, it just didn't belong at the marathon. I have no problem with enigmatic storylines, but, for them to truly work, they must either have a major payoff or be so intrinsically interesting that you are compelled. NEITHER is neither. I am not one to demand a pat 'ending', but, you have to give the viewer more than a vaguely symbolic tale of soldiers and Afghans stuck inside a meaningless war where existence is some sort of purgatory of the mind (at least that's what little I got out of it). A mistake that frankly wasn't worth the digital nightmare it presented us at 3am!

PAPER-MACHE BOULDER - The nightmare gets worse. With PREDATOR temporarily side-lined because of studio error, we had to bump this turkey up into the schedule giving us back to back confounding entries. The time has loooooong past for these alleged "homages" to "bad 50s films" to end. Larry Blamire this applies to you, too! Having it on the same program as GALAXY QUEST only compounded it's rankness. Who are these movies made for? The GenX folks who make them have little feel for the actual originals and their target audience of fellow hipsters mostly could care less. I suppose this could have made for a tolerable 15 minute short, but, the incompetence of the Director knew no bounds as this painfully limps along for ONE HUNDRED-TWELVE agonizing minutes. Apparently, he shot the entire script (ad libs and all) and refused to cut a single second of the footage. IF something like this has to show again, please relegate it to the side-bar in the basement. Please?  Kiss

PREDATOR - The only good thing about the PAPER MACHE snafu is that we got to end with a fun trio of 80s and 90s flicks. I hadn't revisited PREDATOR since its original theatrical release. It hasn't gotten much better as a Sci-Fi film. It very much is a typical Arnuld/Stallone/Chuck Norris war action flick with ONE sci-fi element tossed in. Honestly, the 'Predator' could have been a Russian soldier with a high-tech cloaking device with a major thirst for killing and you wouldn't have to change the 'story' a lick. It's still fun in a dumb macho kind of way and the early CGI holds up pretty darn well - as does Stan Winston's Predator outfit.

ROCKETEER - Another flick I hadn't seen since it's theatrical run. But, as opposed to PREDATOR - I thought this one actually improved a bit with age. It's still not the big successful franchise-starter that Disney obviously intended it to be, but, its nostalgic value has only increased. It seems kind of quaint now that a major studio would spend so much time, money and effort into such a low-key 'blockbuster' (see also DICK TRACY and THE PHANTOM). Modern superhero movies seem more intent into pounding you into submission than just pleasurably entertaining you. The movie's pace is still far too slack and Billy Campbell isn't the most charasmatic lead, but, the supporting players are very good, the SFX hold up well for the era and I loved the nods to old Hollywood including the Rondo Hatton henchman. The 35mm film print had a number of scratches, but, the rich contrast and color saturation were a welcome relief from all the digital in the intervening hours.

TREMORS - Still a lot of fun. It's still one the best 50s movies made in the past few decades. It's silly, hokey and a barrel of enjoyment. Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon should have done a series of movies together. They made a great team, as did the gun nuts Reba McIntire and Michael Gross. It's amusing that Finn Carter is considered an 'ugly duckling' - only in Hollywood, eh? The whole cast obviously had a ball, and the low budget effects are still quite effective. When I scheduled it as the finale, I hoped it would work as a nice light-weight climax. It seemed to go over well.


Thanks to everybody involved. Frank & Fran, Garen, Harry, Ian, DDK, Tom and the entire Somerville staff. And, hats off to my fellow travellers in my 'LA Connection' Group - four of us now having an unbroken string of 28 straight years together! And, to you, the loyal members of this board which has survived server crashes, threats to be shut-down and a revolution in social media alternatives.
« Last Edit: Feb 26th, 2017 at 6:16pm by L.A. Connection »  
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Reply #13 - Feb 25th, 2017 at 9:42pm

Jay Seaver   Offline
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Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Been a while since I saw this, and I still like it.  I'm kind of sad that Douglas Adams didn't live long enough to really get into the internet, because I could really see the bite-sized, semi-random bits working as a blog, YouTube channel, or the like.  Anyway, seeing it again, soon after Max Landis's Dirk Gently, I'm more impressed with how the script captures both Adams's absurdity and humanism.

Galaxy Quest - The number of ways this could go wrong are amazing, but it never does.  Casting is the big thing; even the guys in smaller roles are great and it looks more star-studded than it was at the time because this was the first many saw of Sam Rockwell, Justin Long, and more in decent-sized roles.

Creature from the Black Lagoon - I think this is the first time I've seen it in 2D, after seeing an anaglyph 3D print twice.  It's fun, although it's clearly from a time when SF/horror wasn't really taken seriously by filmmakers.  The "Mark" idiots didn't help things.

Gattaca - Been a while since I last saw this, and I've spent a fair amount of time diving into film noir since.  Makes it better, and it was always pretty darn great.

Fury Road - I think this is the sixth time I've seen this in a theater, and it still holds up fantastically.  I don't think the "Black & Chrome" version is better or more "what Miller wanted" than the standard - he uses color too well for that to be the case - but it's a fun alternative.

Brazil - As many nifty things as there are in this movie, I find that I just don't love Gilliam when he's riffing on a general idea than when he's directing a strong script by someone else.

Timecrimes - Man, I had forgotten how dumb and skeezy the protagonist of this was since I first saw it.  It's still a neat little time travel story, and I'm really looking forward to Nacho's Colossal in a month or two.

John Dies at the End - Napped a lot during this one, but what I saw, I didn't love nearly as much as when I saw it at BUFF a few years back.  Sometimes, the weirdness is much more fun as it's discovered.

Neither Heaven nor Earth - Seemed like an interesting idea as it started, but it never really got anywhere.

This Giant Paper-Mache Boulder Is Really Quite Heavy - Yep, this stuff is crap.

Predator - Good fun, although in retrospect, it's really got a VOD actioner feel to it.

The Rocketeer - So much fun, and another with a really delightful cast that seems even better now (Timothy Dalton always makes things better, Margo Martindale was not widely recognized as a great character actress yet, and Alan Arkin had hair!).

Tremors - Someone at a previous festival described this as a "guilty pleasure", but for that to be case, there'd have to be something wrong with it, and it executes everything it goes for perfectly.
 
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Reply #14 - Feb 26th, 2017 at 4:10pm

BrianInNH   Offline
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Big Picture – had a great time and am already looking forward to next year!  A lot of people worked hard on this and we really appreciate it!

There were some good and not so good movies, but it could have used another movie or two from the 50's and 60's.  The balance was a bit off. 

It did not seem like there were as many shorts as the past and I would have liked 1 or 2 more.  One of the shorts on the schedule never played or I missed it – I never heard what happened.  I also miss the little clips that would be put in between the films.  I would love to have a thon where the opening credits of various sci fi TV shows were shown between the movies.

The people with the laser pointers were much more reasonable this year and I appreciated it.

Trailers – I missed these altogether.  I thought that the doors opened at 11:00, but apparently are opening at 10:30 now?

In Memoriam – Very well done and I enjoyed it, but it was WAY too long.

Rocky Horror – Loved singing “Science Fiction”.  This is probably my all time favorite movie and I would love to see it at the thon someday.  It is certainly more science fictiony than some of the movies that do play.

Duck Dodgers – 5 stars!

Hitchiker's Guide – It's a good but not great adaptation of the books.  It was funny, but some of the gags work better in a book than on film.  I love that they gave a cameo to the depressed Marvin robot from the old TV series.

Galaxy Quest – I didn't care for this movie the first time that I saw it, but I enjoyed it a lot more this second time.  I completely agree with L.A. Connection that this theme of making movies about movies needs to end.  Galaxy Quest did it well but now it's been done.

Alien Mating Cry – I missed this somehow, but that is probably for the best.  It is not my favorite part of the thon, but I don't mind it if others are getting something out of it.

Creature From the Black Lagoon – I don't think that I have ever seen this movie before and it was really good!  They did a lot with a limited budget.  Probably one of the better examples of the 50's monster movie genre.  You could tell that some of the scenes were meant to be shown in 3D, but the 2D version holds up well.

Gattaca – An excellent sci fi flick and definitely the best movie of the thon this year.  Great characters and plot.  It makes you think about the future with all of its possibilities and dangers.

Max Max Fury Road – I hadn't seen this movie before and I missed the first few minutes for supper, but  it was a good action adventure.  The “truckload of Playboy Bunnies” as L.A. Connection put it was a bit much, but being a middle aged gay guy, I am probably not the target demographic.  I liked the black and white, it added a certain noir feel to the movie, but I haven't seen the color version, so I can't compare them.

Tin Foil Hat Contest – Always one of the highlights.  Every year I say I am going to make one, but I never do.   Kudos to those that do.

Brazil – Very strange film, but it holds up well.  It has a lot to say about letting process rule over common sense and decency.  The sci-fi content was a bit minimal for the thon, but the sets were exceptional.

Nina Unlocked – Would love to see more of this, which is the point.

Timecrimes – This is the standout of the thon this year.  It was surprisingly well done and thought out on a limited budget.  It is not a great movie and you will be disappointed if you walk in with high expectations, but it was a good call to include as a movie that we probably haven't heard of before.

John Dies at the End – Eh.  Kind of forgettable.  If you are going to show a zombie movie, I would have gone with Shaun of the Dead.

Neither Heaven Nor Earth – Slow moving, French language film with English subtitles.  It is very French – all about setting a mood and the plot doesn't really go anywhere, then it just ends without resolution.  I don't mind this kind of movie and I enjoyed watching it, but it really didn't have any sci fi content, so it felt like it was at the wrong thon.

Paper-Mache Boulder – I like watching bad sci fi and I was looking forward to this one.  I think of the thon as “the good, the bad and the hilariously bad.”   That having been said, this film is so bad that it is unwatchable.  I tried, but I finally had to admit that I was torturing myself trying to watch this.  I gave up about 30 minutes in and decided to find someplace to (not) sleep for a while.  If this had been an interesting movie, I would have stayed up.

After taking an hour or two of rest, it was time for us to leave – we don't have the constitution to last the entire 24 hours, so we didn't see Predator, Rocketeer or Tremors.

Thanks all for a great time and we will see you next year!
 
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