“You’re no messiah. You’re a movie of the week. You’re a fucking t-shirt, at best.”
Hey, howdy hey, Cinemaniacs! Ealan here with another HMC newsletter!
Please join us today at 12PM PDT/3PM EDT for another HMC: Double Take on the 90s flick Se7en, piggybacking off of last week’s discussion of Fight Club.
David Fincher gave us one helluva clinic when it comes to “slow burn” with an absolute gut-punch finale. But I don’t use the term “slow burn” lightly – no siree Bob. I mean it in the most praiseworthy way possible. Yes, the pacing is slow and methodical—shots lingering on the characters as their brains are processing the crime scenes—and yet I am glued to the story.
I can’t wait to discuss it with Derek and those of you can join us live. So please do! 😊
“I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.”
Just a heads up for next week’s HMC: After the Credits episode if you want to watch it ahead of time. We will be discussing John Carpenter’s cult classic 80s flick They Live.
I myself am very excited that Derek chose this one because a) John Carpenter is the man, and b) I’ve never seen it in the slightest. With a lot of the films we cover through these lives streams, it’s typically films that I’ve seen a long time ago, or maybe have seen certain scenes, or certain bits over the years just because I’ve been on this earth for over 40 years.
But They Live? Almost nothing. Granted, I’ve seen that one scene that is referenced in the image above where our protagonist sees these skeletal beings through the lenses of his glasses, but I wasn’t even aware that was taken from They Live until making this newsletter! 😂
So I’m basically going in blind, but I know I’m in for one helluva ride, folks!
Set tour calendars for Cinco de Mayo! Yeah, that’s right! We will have our discussion surrounding They Live on May 5th at 4PM PDT/7PM EDT. We hope you can join us then!
Commentary Tracks
For those of you who missed it, at the end of last week’s HMC: After the Credits episode, I gave y’all some homework: Watch a movie (if you can) while listening to a commentary track!
Did you already do it? Or do you even have the means to do it, since I realize commentary tracks are almost exclusively on physical media? If you are setup to be able to watch physical media at all, I highly recommend watching a favorite with commentary. You’ll often get a glimpse into the filmmaking process, or come across notable changes the director or producers were forced to make while filming due to unforeseen circumstances, etc. I really cool peek behind the curtain.
One aspect I adore with commentary tracks is hearing the director themselves discuss a particular shot or scene or line of dialog that they wish they could’ve re-done or changed in some way. Or perhaps a scene they really loved, but had to leave on the cutting room floor since it didn’t serve the overall narrative very well.
It’s such a testament to how difficult it is to make a film in the first place, much less a good one. But in the end, it’s a matter of time, performances captured, budget and editing that any filmmaker has to ultimately work with to craft into a cohesive story, for better or for worse. Because it really is a work of art. Or at least films used to be, anyway.
But we can debate that later. 😎
Thanks for being the coolest Cinemaniacs around! Watch a Blu-ray with commentary if you haven’t yet! And let us know what you thought about the experience!
Don’t just watch TV and movies, experience them! Preferably with friends! Peace! ✌️