Brooke's Movie Page

Comment about Movie accuracy
Often a movie will depict something incorrectly. I think there are four reasons for this:

For example Pearl Harbor has a few scenes where a man on the ground is talking to aircraft pilots using a radio that is turned off and has the antenna down. This may be attributed to poor research.

Other times what is shown incorrectly is done on purpose, like a lock pick scene, so that the movie does not become a vocational film.

In other cases there is what I call the "MacGyver effect"; children of all ages will try something they see so the film makers need to use caution in what they show. It's my understanding that the popular TV series was pulled because of kids trying the technical stunts from the show.

The moive needs something to make the whole story work. In Behind Enemy Lines the way a radio works is portrayed differently in different parts of the movie so that the stroy line works. Or in Ocean's Eleven what is presented as fact is really fiction, but it adds to the stroy line.

The problem with Genres is that everyone has a different list or even multiple lists. For example, Blockbuster has a list of 21 "catagories" on their main movie web page, but when you go into a BB store there are only 8 (Action, Comedy, Drama, Family, Foreign, Horror, Spanish language, TV). This makes it hard to find a given title. Worse most movies are a combination of generes and there doesn't seem to be any agreement as to which to use for shelving, for example when Mr. & Mrs. Smith came out some rental stores shelved it as Comedy while others shelved it as action.

If a movie is made using a formula or template then it most likley will not be great but will be much better than a movie made by a director that does not know what he is doing.

An analogy is portrait photography. Many amateurs take pictures of other people and the results are poor to bad most of the time. A portrait studio that has a formula lighting setup and back drop can turn out reasonably good portraits even if a non photographer works the camera. But a gifted photographer can take a great portrait using the same studio setup or outdoors.

Like in many things once you know the rules and why they are there then you are free to knowingly break them.

Novel or original Screen play Writer

This is the idea the movie is based on. Tom Clancy wrote the novel "Red October". Larry Ferguson wrote the screen play. (A screen play describes the place, time, what the camera sees and the dialog. Often when people are describing a movie they mistakenly give the director credit for the idea. For example see the comments about "12 Monkeys" and "Blade Runner" which were screen written by David Web Peoples. Almost all the comments are really about the story not about what the director did.

Philip K Dick wrote the books that were made into the movies: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Barjo, Screameres, Imposter, Minority Report, Paycheck.

Producers

The producers purchase the movie rights and fund it's production. They are the ones who set the budget, hire the director and may be influential in hiring the key actors. This is a chain of events and so there may be a number of producers (opening logos) associated with a movie. They sometimes leave the movie and sell their part to another producer.

If you know what the different producer titles in the credits mean please let me know.

Screen Writer

A screen writer does the creative process of coming up with the movie script based on a novel or an original idea. Scripts are written in a very standardized format so that the movie run time is very closely related to the number of pages in the script.

Sometimes the after a movie has started the script is found to be lacking and a new screen writer may get hired to finish the script.

Director

The director is similar to the captain of a ship. He hires all the cast and crew. He has control of what's filmed and how. He may or may not have final say in the editing. The stunning visual images in "The cell" are the result of the directors vision and his choice and direction of the production designer. Another way to think of it is the director is the story teller. For example the same novel coule be made into very different movies if different directors were choosen to make it.

It's important for a director or actor to be sure the movie is a good fit for them. If a director has made a number of very successful movies that are all alike he may be tired of them and if another similar is done it may be a looser. But if he is challenged with a new type of movie it may be great. The danger is that a director may not accept challenging new movie types and keep making boring versions of his prior movies.

One of the key jobs of the director is controlling the budget. This is the driving force behind how any movie is made. The locations used for a movie have a lot to due with the budget. Also the shooting order. If a very expensive actor is being used it's good to film all of their scenes in the most time efficient manner. In "Ticker" Dennis Hopper was only involved for a couple days, yet he appears all through the film (this was overdoing it since the actors ended up having no interactions), although a low budget film ended up with some big actors in it the quality was poor.

It may be that the producer that hires the director has already set the genre, but whoever sets it will hold all those at successive job titles to it.

Sometimes the person who has written the script is the director. This may be so the creative control is maintained.

Actors

The actors are the people that appear in front of the camera. Actors have different levels of capability. Some actors always play the same type of character like a thug, a slightly crazy person, a good looking woman, a cowboy, etc. Other actors have much more range and can portray completely different types of people. You might not even recognize that an actor you know is performing. Gary Oldham is great in this regard. Michael Parks plays the old Mexican pimp in Kill Bill 2, but you wouldn't know unless you were told it was him. Peter Sellers was famous for palying multiple parts (maybe up to 12) in the same movie.

Actors, like directors, tend to give their best performances when challenged. Robin Williams in "One Hour Photo" does a fantastic job palying a character that's far from his normal comedic self.

Quentin Tarantino has chosen actors who were out of favor at the time and cast them in rolls that were different from what they had done in the past with a very good result both for the movie being made and for the actors careers.

Film Sizes

16 mm, 8 mm, Super 8, Super 16

Photographic movie films may have started out with 16 mm film. When I was going to school this was the size we saw in the classroom. It was the size used for filming football games and documentaries. If a 16 mm is split in two lengthwise the two resulting strips are called 8 mm film. It has sprocket holes only on one side. But the sprocket holes are beside the frame that gets exposed. An improvement was made called Super 8 where the sprocket holes were positioned between the frames allowing the frame size to be larger. Recently Super 16 has shown up and allows a larger frame size than the classical 16 mm frame. Many 16 mm cameras can be retrofitted to allow Super 16 film to be used.

35 mm

This is the standard film size used in movie theathers. Like the other film sizes above it is run from the top reel to a bottom reel unlike a standard 35 mm (llandscape mode) camera that runs the film horizontally. The frame size in a 35 mm still camera is much larger than for a movie. The half frame 35 mm still cameras get twice the number of photos per roll of 35 mm film as the standard 35 mm still cameras but the frame is portrait mode. When a 35 mm moie uses the film horizontally it's called Vista-Vision or Technirama.

There's also a Super 35 format.

70 mm

When used in the standard top to bottom way it's just 70 mm. When turned horizontally is called Imax.

Video

Color television was invented in the U.S. and the first color format is called NTSC (sometimes called Never The Same Color). The PAL system is an improvement and SECAM is a further improvement. These are all interlaced formats where each frame is made up of two fields that are scanned alternately.

Progressive scan scans the whole frame in one go. This takes twice the bandwidth as an interlaced scan which means you are seeing twice the information.

The newer High Definition TV (HDTV) formats use progressive scan. There are now HD TV video cameras below $ 2,000 that may be about equivalent to a 16 mm film camera. As of Dec 2006 there has been an announcement about HD DVDs, but they are not in the rental stores.

Most of the movie Collateral (2004) was shot using HDTV instead of film. The action takes place all at night. Note that silicon image sensors like CCD or MOS types have much more sensitivity to light than film stock. When you watch Collateral you will notice trees in silhouette against a gray sky background that would not be seen on film. There are many other places in Collateral where the use of HDTV results in seeing way more than would be possible if film were used. Sony HDW-F900 cameras list price ranges from $10 k to over $100 k for a loaded package.

There is a hidden director's commentary on one of the subtitle tracks (there is no audio commentary) that points out many of the video camera's advantages for this film.

Sony also makes the HVR-V1U that's a civilian 1080p24 HDTV camera using 3 CMOS sensors with a sticker price below $5k (street price (2007) below $4k for the camera. The optional Firewere external HVR-DR60 hard drive recorder for under $2 k (total for package about $ 7 k). A reviews of the HVR-V1U: Gizmodo,

Animation

In any camera that can take a single frame or maybe 2 or 3 frames with a single push of a shutter button you can make an animated movie. In addition to animating using drawings you can animate real objects like people. For example of a person poses like they are skating with one foot up and too the rear and you make a still photo, then have the person move 12 inches forward and take up the same pose and make another still photo. When this process is repeated many times and the movie is played it will appear as if the person is skating. Clay makes a good subject for animation. Note that you can have the camera on a tripod and locked down for the entire sequence. If a longer lens is used and the camera is paned to follow the person then great care is needed so that the person stays in the same part of the frame rather than appearing to bobble back and forth.

By photographing story boards for the length of time the scene will run you could make a rough version of a movie. This might be a way to work on the editing prior to exposing film.

I used a Bolex 16 mm camera for the animation I did. But there might be a video camera that allows single frame exposures. Editing video has the great advantage that no film cutting is needed. That means you do not destroy film when you scrap a proposed sequence.

History of sub-35 mm Film Formats & Cameras -
Film Formats Larger than standard 35mm -

TV Screens

In the old days all TV images in the U.S. were in the 4:3 aspect ratio and were 30 frames per second (60 interlaced fields per second, i.e. 30i) and they have 780 lines in the horizontal direction and 480 lines in the vertical direction (480i). Recently High Definition video has come out where each frame is one field that's progressively scanned and there's 1080 lines in the vertical direction, called 1080p or 30p.

Since the movie film standard is 24 frames per second there's a standard way to electronically scan the frames of film to end up at 480i for viewing on a classic TV screen. When a 480p display is fed movie video in the 480i format there is a circuit that remembers the two fields and combines them to produce a 480p signal that has twice the resolution. This makes a fantastic difference in the image quality. The difference in going to 1080p on a screen that's about 5 feet wide is lost on my eyes. But I suspect that for screens 10 or more feet wide the difference would be noticeable. And for sure on a 40 foot wide screen in a movie theater it would be very apparent (that's why 1080p was used to make the movie "Collateral").

Note that most of the DVD and VHS tape players that are on the market in 2006 have progressive outputs and can drive a 480p screen. The DVDs for new movies are double layer and have a capacity of about 2 * 4.7 = 9.4 GigaBytes. Half is used for the movie and some or all of the rest is used for the special features. Since DVDs are digital the quality is much much better than analog tape where every step of the process degrades the image. There is not yet a standard for 1080p. Blue Ray is one idea for a disk that can hold the needed 50 GB and these are starting to be sold but both the drives and the media are now very expensive.

Aspect Ratios

The classic ratio is 4 width to 3 height for both TV and movies. Now wide screen 16 wide by 9 high is popular. When a movie is shot in wide screen format and displayed on a classic 4x3 TV screen it needs to be "panned and scanned". This results in chopping off information. If a wide screen movie is displayed on a classic 4x3 TV screen in wide screen format there will be a black bar above and below the image. Some people feel that the black bar means that they are seeing less information than when they are seeing a "full screen" image, but that is NOT the case. They are really seeing less in the "full screen" (panned and scanned) version. So my rule of thumb is to see the most watch the movie in the format that was used to make the film.

Movie Screen Aspect Ratios -

Hidden Message? Prot (Kevin Spacy) the alien says that sex on his planet K-Pax is disgusting. On earth Prot eats a banana including the skin and in a number of places notices or comments on the great "fruit" on earth. At one point he disappears to travel to some northern countries. It may be that "fruit" is a metaphor for sex and that's what Prot enjoys so much about earth and his travel was to enjoy more of it

Enemy of the State - 1998 - IMDb - Gene Hackman (ex NSA), Will Smith (Victim ) - see 1999 STOA Report on communications intelligence for background
Truman Show - IMDb - 1998 - Jim Carrey - unknowingly raised as the star of a 24 hour/day TV show
Zero Effect -IMDb - 1998 - Bill Pullman (gum shoe) Ben Stiller (gum shoe's assistant) Kim Dickens (romantic interest) - bigger part than Mercury Rising

Daryl Zero: Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them.

Out of Sight - IMDb- 1998 - George Clooney (Con) Jennifer Lopez (FBI & girl friend) Elmore Leonard novel Elmore Leonard's web page. & on Amazon.com
Rush Hour -IMDb - 1998 - Jackie Chan - Done in Hollywood, better quality than the dubbed ones
Mercury Rising - 1998 - Starring Bruce Willis (FBI g guy) and Alec baldwin (NSA b guy), Kim Dickens (friend) -Universal Pictures - Book -Simple Simon by Ryne Douglas Pearson
Wag the Dog - 1998 - Robert DeNiro (Fix it man) & Dustin Hoffman (Movie Producer) - New Line Cinema - Book: American Hero by Larry Beinhart - very close to reality?
Sphere - 1998 -Dustin Hoffman (shrink), Sharon Stone (patient) and Samuel L. Jackson (mathematician) - Warner Brothers - Book: Sphere by Michael Crichton-
Deconstructing Harry - IMDb - 1997 - a Woody Allen film - Robin Williams, Elisabeth Shue, Richard Benjamin, Kirstie Alley, Judy Davis + + + + stars
Contact - 1997 - Jodi Foster (Radio Astronomer) - Warner Brothers - Book: Contact by Carl Sagan similar in concept to 2001 a Space Odyssey.
Men in Black -1997 - Mr. Jones (seasoned gost buster) and Mr. Smith (new trainee) Linda Fiorentino(coroner) -Columbia Pictures -comic book The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham.
The Fifth Element - 1997 - Bruce Willis (future taxi driver) Milla Jovovich (ET saves world) Gary Oldman (villain) -highly recommended
Liar Liar - 1997 - Jim Carrey (Lawyer) - Universal Pictures -
The Game - 1997 -Michael Douglas (business man), Deborah Unger (game player) - PolyGram
The Postman - 1997 - Kevin Costner (Postman) - Warner Brothers -
The Saint - 1997 - Val Kilmer (gentleman thief) Elisabeth Shue (scientist) - Paramount Pictures - Book: The Saint and the Happy Highwayman by Leslie Chateris.
Good Will Hunting - 1997 - Matt Damon (janitor) & Robin Williams (shrink) - Miramax Films
Red Corner - 1997 -Richard Gere (buinesman) - MGM/UA
Conspiracy Theory- 1997 -Mel Gibson (cab driver), Julia Roberts (assistant DA), Patrick Stewart (CIA shrink) - Warner Bros.
The Assignment - 1997 - Aidan Quinn (navy man), Donald Sutherland (CIA) & Ben Kingsley (Mosad) - Sony -
Murder at 1600 -1997- Wesley Snipes (Washington DC cop) & Diane Lane (Secret Service) - Warner Bros.
As Good As It Gets - 1997 - Jack Nicholson (wierdo) - Greg Kinnear (neighbor) - Sony
G.I. Jane - 1997 - Demi Moore (SEAL) - Hollywood Pictures -
Gattaca - 1997 - Interesting genetic sci-fi Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law
Sling Blade - 1996 - IMDb - I didn't see this movie or Silence of the Lambs for some time since the title & what I had heard suggested that they were slasher type movies. It turns out that they are both great.
Mission: Impossible - 1996 - based on the TV series
Independence Day - 1996 - Will Smith (Marine) & Jeff Goldblum (TV repair man) Bill Pullman (President)- 20th Century Fox -
Broken Arrow - 1996 - John Travolta (bad guy), Christian Slater & Samantha Mathis (good guys) -
Phenomenon - 1996 - John Travolta garage mechanic gets very smart -
Michael - 1996 - John Travolta (angel) - not the kind of Angel you expect
Eraser- 1996 - Arnold Schwarzenegger (Marshal), Vanessa Williams (whistle blower) - Warner Bros. -
The Long Kiss Goodnight - 1996 - Geena Davis (teacher/spy) & Samuel L. Jackson (private eye) - action & comedy
Johnny Mnemonic - 1995 - IMDb - Keanu Reeves a data courier/smuggler with a jack into his brain so he can upload/download data. Hollywood Goes Cyberpunk - technical details on the CGI
Heat - 1995 - Robert De Niro (career criminal), Al Pacino (cop), Val Kilmer (demo man) - Warner - De Niro & Pacino have a cup of coffee Same writer/director as Thief (1981)
Crimson Tide - 1995 - Gene Hackman (Sub Captian) & Denzel Washington (XO) - Buena Vista Home Video - good sub movie
French Kiss - 1995 - Meg Ryan (woman) & Kevin Kline (con man) - trimark - heart warming
12 Monkeys - 1995 - IMDb - Bruce Willis is sent back in time to find out how the virus that wipes out humans got started. As a young boy he witnesses his own death. For him it's hard to say what's real and what happened in a dream. Script by Mr. & Mrs. Peoples who also wrote Blade Runner and Unforgiven. The first time I saw this movie it did not get it. Now it's one of my favorites.
Get Shorty - 1995 - great cast - loan shark decides to become a movie producer
Forrest Gump - 1994 - Tom Hanks (grows up) & Gary Sinise (Sgt. Dan) - tour de force for computer movie graphics. I live in the same time frame as Gump.
True Lies - 1994 - Arnold Schwarzenegger (spy) and Tia Carrere (bad girl) - action & comedy
The Joy Luck Club - 1993 - Rosalind Chao, Joan Chen, France Nuyen, Tamlyn Tomita (women) - Hollywood Pictures -
The Fugitive - 1993 - based on the TV series
Groundhog Day -1993 -Bill Murray weatherman doomed to repeat the worst day of his life until he discovers the key to moving his life forward - the concept is at the heart of many religions.
Rising Sun - 1993 -Sean Connery (master) and Wesley Snipes (student) - Book: Rising Sun by Michael Crichton - the comments by Connery are mostly (all?) true
Jennifer Eight - 1992 - IMDb - Andy Garcia & Uma Thurman in a mystery where both of their performances are great as is the movie
Wayne's World - 1992 - Mike Myers Dana Carvey Tia Carrere (rock singer) - based on Saturday Night Live
Under Siege -IMDb- 1992 - Steven Seagal (cook), Tommy Lee Jones & Gary Busey (bad guys) - Warner Home Video -
The Bodyguard -IMDb- 1992 - Whitney Houston (singer) & Kevin Costner (bodyguard) - Whitney is the only person I've heard sing the Star Spangled Banner that really made it sound great, gave me goose bumps, she's a fantastic singer!
L.A. Story -IMDb- 1991 - Steve Martin (TV weatherman) & Victoria Tennant (English reporter) -
JFK -IMDb- 1991- It combines all the conspiracy theories, ture or false to weave a tale.
Silence of the Lambs - 1991 - IMDb - along with Hannibal & Red Dragon are great Anthony Hopkins movies
Ghost -IMDb- 1990 - Patrick Swayze (banker) & Whoopi Goldberg (medium) Demi Moore (girl friend)- Paramont -
The Hunt for Red October -IMDb- 1990- Alec Baldwin (NSA analyst) and Sean Connery (Russian Sub Captain), James Earl Jones (head CIA)- Malofilm Group - Book: The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy - The book has more true spy tech stuff, like processing both the film and lens of the camera to get greatly enhanced images.
Rain Man - IMDb - 1988 - A great movie. Similar to Bill
Full Metal Jacket - IMDb - 1987 - Vincent D'Onofrio very believable as Pvt. Pyle who can't take boot camp and shoots his D.I.
Top Gun -IMDb- 1986 - Tom Cruse (pilot), Meg Ryan (bit part), Val Kilmer (pilot) - some great aerial combat scenes
Crocodile Dundee -IMDb- 1986 - Paul Hogan (country boy) -
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins -IMDb-1985 - Joel Grey (martial arts instructor) - Joel Grey has extremely great mental-physical moves - must see.
Back to the Future -IMDb- 1985 - Michael J. Fox (teenager), Christopher Lloyd (mad scientist) - time travel
The Falcon and The Snowman -IMDb- 1984 - Based on a true story about spying inside TRW. See my crypto page for more.
Beverly Hills Cop -IMDb- 1984 - Eddie Murphy (streetwise cop) -
Brainstorm -IMDb- 1983 - Natalie Wood, Christopher Walken, Cliff Robertson (Three scientists) - invent a machine that allows you to experience what another experienced - must see
WarGames -IMDb- 1983 -Were I worked someone called our telex machine trying to hack it, we offered (1) checkers... (4) Global Thermonuclear War...
Risky Business -IMDb- 1983 - Tom Cruise (business man), Rebecca De Mornay (working girl), Joe Pantoliano, Richard Masur -
Cat People -IMDb- 1982 -Nastassja Kinski (cat) Malcolm McDowell (cat) Music by David Bowie - "putting out fire with gasoline"
Blade Runner -IMDb- 1982 -Harrison Ford (future cop) - a classic Script by Mr. & Mrs. Peoples who also wrote 12 Monkeys and Unforgiven. The first time I saw this movie it did not get it.
Stripes - IMDb - The Animal House crew at it again.
History of the World: Part I -IMDb- 1981 - Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Sid Caesar, Dom DeLuise, Phil Leeds, Gregory Hines, Ron Carey
Looker -IMDb- 1981 - Albert Finney (plastic surgeon) - Warner Home Video directed by Michael Crichton -
Wolfen -IMDb-1981- Albert Finney (cop) -
Blow Out -IMDb- 1981 - John Travolta (sound man) - excellent movie, even today (2006)
Eye of the Needle -IMDb- 1981 - spy thriller based on pre Normandy spoof by Gen.Patton - book by Ken Follett
Tattoo -IMDb- 1981 - Bruce Dern, Maud Adams -
Bill -IMDb- 1981 - Mickey Rooney, Dennis Quaid -TV movie - a fantastic performance by Mickey
Thief -IMDb- 1981 - James Caan (professional thief), Willie Nelson (prision roomy), Tuesday Weld (girl friend), Robert Prosky, James Belushi, Dennis Farina - Same writer/Director as Heat - good technical details
Southern Comfort - IMDb - 1981 - Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives. Vietnam allegory? Haunting music by Ry Cooder.
Altered States - IMDb - 1980 - William Hurt A Harvard scientist conducts experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber that may be causing him to regress genetically.
Caddyshack -IMDb- 1980 - Chevy Chase (golfer), Rodney Dangerfield (rich golfer), Bill Murray (grounds keeper) -
The Blues Brothers -IMDb- 1980 -John Belushi (Jake) & Dan Aykroyd (Elwood) - Universal Studios -> sequel BB2000
The Blue Lagoon - IMDb - Brooke Shields (same first name, but much easier on the eyes)
Hopscotch -IMDb- 1980 - Walter Matthau (X CIA), Glenda Jackson (friend), Sam Waterston , Ned Beatty , Herbert Lom -
Airplane! -IMDb- 1980 - Robert Hays (drinking problem), Julie Hagerty (girl friend), Lloyd Bridges (control tower), Leslie Nielsen (pilot), Peter Graves Robert Stack
Apocalypse Now -IMDb- 1979 -Marlon Brando (crazy soilder) Robert Duvall Martin Sheen Dennis Hopper Harrison Ford - classic about Vietnam era - Porklips Now-

This is one of the original 7 movies in the American Zoetrope portfolio.

Mad Max -IMDb- 1979 - Mel Gibson the back story on Mad Max has some interesting hot rods
Being There -IMDb- 1979 - Peter Sellers (gardner) Shirley MacLaine (society woman) - Lorimar Film Entertainment - Book: Being There by Jerzy Kosinkski
The Electric Horseman -IMDb- 1979 - Robert Redford (cowboy) Jane Fonda (reporter) -
Powers of Ten -IMDb - 1978 -by Charles and Ray Eames V. 1 - - Documentary about zooming in powers of ten
Animal House - IMDb - a GREAT John Belushi movie written by Harold Ramis - This movie made many actors careers.
Hardware Wars and Other Film Farces - 1978 -Directed by Ernie Fosselius - short sub - excellent spoof on Star Wars, later "Porklips Now" great spoof on Apocalypse Now
Fun With Dick and Jane -IMDb- 1977 - George Segal (laid off aerospace worker) and Jane Fonda (his wife) turn to crime
Telefon -IMDb- 1977 - deep cover spys get activated by a phone call
Marathon Man -IMDb- 1976 - Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier - Olivier as the German dentist drilling Hoffman's tooth to get information
The Man Who Fell to Earth -IMDb-1976 - David Bowie (alien inventor) -should be 140 min.
Cannonball -IMDb- 1976 - 427 Cobra wins race across U.S.
Network -IMDb-1976 - Must see - fortold what television has become, origional screen play by Paddy Chayefsky
Three Days of the Condor -IMDb- 1975 - Robert Redford (CIA book reader) and Faye Dunaway (random friend) Cliff Robertson (CIA chief) Max Von Sydow (hit man) John Houseman (head CIA) - Malofilm Group - Book: Six Days of the Condor by James Grady - based on actual U.S. plan ref H.R. # ___
The Rocky Horror Picture Show -IMDb -1975 - This is THE cult film of all time.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -IMDb-1975 - Jack Nicholson (mental paitent) - some actual patients went on with a movie career
Death Race 2000 -IMDb- 1975 - Sylvester Stallone points for running over pedestrians
Chinatown -IMDb- 1974 - Jack Nicholson (cop) - Based on actual L.A. basin water goings on
The Conversation -IMDb- 1974 - S.F. private eye Hal Lipset did technical consulting (he invented the olive bug)

This is one of the original 7 movies in the American Zoetrope portfolio.

Sleeper -IMDb- 1973 -Woody Allen (directed & starred)
The Sting -IMDb- 1973 - Paul Newman (hustler), Robert Redford (hustler), - Universal Studios -
Soylent Green -IMDb- 1973 - Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors, Edward G. Robinson, Dick Van Patten, Joseph Cotten, Brock Peters -Based on Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!"
The Godfather -IMDb- 1972 - Mafia family business "an offer that he can not refuse"
THX-1138 -IMDb- 1970/1? - Directed by George Lucas (expanded version of his school movie project shown at Foothill College Film Festival) Robert Duvall Donald Pleasence (workers) - I was taking a film making class at the time at Foothill College. The 2004 "Director's Cut" 2 disk DVD has an interesting short subject on the history of American Zoetrope and the making of the movie.

This is the first of the planned 7 movies in the American Zoetrope portfolio.

Warner Brothers withdrew support for American Zoetrope after they saw THX-1138 and so missed out on The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, American Graffiti, etc.

The Hospital -IMDb- 1971 - George C. Scott (Hosp. Admin), Diana Rigg - what can go wrong does (Rigg from The Avengers English TV series)
A Clockwork Orange - IMDb - This movie still looks great in 2006 Directed by Stanley Kubrick - a classic
Klute -IMDb- 1971- Jane Fonda (hooker) - Jane looks at her watch while on the job - wins Academy Award
Le Mans -IMDb- 1971 - Steve McQueen - used 427 Cobra as camera car - I almost bought that car.
Kung Fu - 1971 - David Carradine (wanderer), Keye Luke (teacher) - pilot for TV series
Dirty Harry -IMDb- 1971 - Clint Eastwood, John Vernon - do you feel lucky punk
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid -IMDb- 1969 -Paul Newman, Robert Redford "Raindrops keep falling" written after the scene was edited (great timing) also the line "Rules . . . . What R..."
Easy Rider -IMDb- 1969 - Peter Fonda & Dennis Hopper (also directed) ride Harley motorcycles, Jack Nicholson has a drink

Note this is the movie that had a profound effect on hollywood. It was made for about $ 400k and grossed about $ 60,000 k and marked the end of the old hollywood.

2001: A Space Odyssey -IMDb- 1968 - Directed by Stanley Kubrick - a classic
The Thomas Crown Affair -IMDb- 1968 - Steve McQueen (banker-bank robber) plays chess with Faye Dunaway (insurance investigator) -> new version out 1999
Barbarella -IMDb- 1968 - Why would Jane Fonda make such a movie?
Bullitt -IMDb- 1968 - Steve McQueen (cop), Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Duvall, Norman Fell - the best auto chase & sound EVER
The President's Analyst -IMDb- 1967 - James Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge (shrink) - about TPC (The Phone Company)
The Graduate -IMDb- 1967 - Dustin Hoffman gets his start and the song "Mrs. Robinson"
Casino Royale -IMDb- 1967 - Woody Allen spoof on James Bond movies
The Dirty Dozen -IMDb- 1967 - all star cast of bad guys doing good
Cool Hand Luke -IMDb- 1967 - Paul Newman (prisoner) - Captain says "What we have here is a failure to communicate" Dennis Hopper & others from this movie went on to make Easy Rider.
Fahrenheit 451 -IMDb- 1967 - The fire department's job is to burn books since buildings are fire proof -> Mel Gibson is directing a version for yr 2000
Morgan -IMDb- 1966 -lunatic artist disguised as a gorilla
Blow-Up -IMDb- 1966 - Vanessa Redgrave David Hemmings - what can be found by many enlargements of a photo (Nikon F)
The Quiller Memorandum -IMDb- 1966 - all star cast
The Pawnbroker -IMDb- 1965 - Rod Steiger -
A Hard Day's Night -IMDb- 1964 - Beatles -
Tom Jones -IMDb- 1963 -Albert Finney (son of who?), Susannah York (wench) David Warner -Henry Fielding's 1749 novel - a man & women enjoy eating
The Hustler -IMDb- 1961 - Paul Newman (hustler), Jackie Gleason (pro), Piper Laurie (girl friend) George C. Scott (boss) - in high school we then went to the local pool hall - Still a great movie in 2006. 1986 remake called The Color of Money. 2005 remake called Shooting Gallery (poor title it means something else)
The Mouse That Roared -IMDb- 1959 - Peter Sellers Leo McKern - Peter's very small country invades the U.S. and wins
Bell, Book and Candle -IMDb- 1958 - James Stewart Kim Novak Jack Lemmon Ernie Kovacs Hermione Gingold Elsa Lanchester
Rear Window -IMDb- 1954 - directed by Alfred Hitchcock -
Rebel Without a Cause -IMDb -1955 - James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo - Perhaps the best teen-age drama of the 1950's.
The Wild One -IMDb- 1954 - Marlon Brando, Lee Marvin - The Hell's Angles visit Hollister, CA - Harley motorcycles "Oh, the shame of it all"
Stalag 17 -IMDb- 1953 - directed by Billy Wilder, William Holden (prisoner) prison escape [the classic Eames chair was built for Billy]
The Man in the White Suit -IMDb-1951 - Alec Guinness (inventor) - Sir Alec made many great movies

DVD

DVDs have replaced tape as the prefered format for watching movies at home. This is not only because there's a huge improvement in the quality, but also because there's additional information in the Features, alternate audio tracks and subtitle tracts. Some DVDs also contain programs that run on a computer.

Features

The first generation DVDs were single layer that can hold just a little more than a 2 hour movie and so tended to have minimal special features. Maybe some static text about the cast and/or crew. There may be more than one audio track and or subtitle track, but not likley.

Second generation DVDs are double layer and can hold a little more than 2 complete movies. These typically hae a special features section that includes such things as deleted scenes, bloopers, alternate ending. These typically include a choice of 2 or 3 languages for the audio track and the same languages for the subtitle track.

On some movies the commentary audio and/or subtitle tracks have a lot of good information for students of making movies.

Hidden Features

To find these you need to use your remote to select alternate audio tracts and/or alternate subtitle tracts. I call them hidden if you can not get to them using the root menu or any menu under the root menu (like special features or bonus menus).

I recently have been finding hidden features. For example in Basic Instinct there is a hidden audio commentary track by a woman who sounds like a college professor that does not understand what the words she used mean. Many mistakes.

In Collateral there's a hidden subtitle track which I think is by M. Mann that has information about the use of HDTV instead of film and it's effect on the night scenes. For me this file looks much more "real" than those movies who use film for night scenes.

DVD Repair

When a DVD gets dirty and covered with finger prints it will cause the picture and/sound to break up. This can be fixed by washing the disk using soap and water, then drying in air or using a lint free wipe. If there are scratches or abrasions that are causing the picture break up then washing will not fix the problem. But using CD Fix It will provide a cure in many (but not all) cases. I got it at my local Video rental outlet (that also has a disk polishing machine which they use to maintain all their rental DVDs).
patent 5746811 Disk Repair System May 5, 1998 106/10 ; 106/11; 106/3; 451/63 - contains wax, non water based solvent, dispersing agent & polishing compound - need to work in radial strokes or across visible scratch to bevel sides of scratch and fill with wax. It really works.

redbox DVD Vending Machines

For the last couple of months the shelves in Video Rental room at the local Lucky store have been mostly bare, like they were going out of business. When asked the clerks didn't know anything. About a week ago (16 Apr 2008) the Lucky store ad had a code (LUCKY30) for Red Box DVD rental and the store address appeared in the ad. But a phone call confirmed that they do not have a Red Box machine.

Surfing found redbox.com and a store finder based on zip code. It turns out that there is one redbox within 20 miles of our town center.

The machine has a light box on the left side with a couple of dozen movies illustrated. A tough screen and credit card reader on the front. The black thing on the right is the input/output slot. The DVDs are in a special case 5 5/8" wide x 4 7/8" high x a little less than 1/4" thick. The four corners are beveled and there's a slot for the robot to work with.

The back has a hole in the center so the 2D bar code can be read, but the front has three windows and if all the open area is scanned you can stitch together a complete bar-code.
The center of the front (redbox on label) has a 2D bar-code in the center that's the case serial number. Marked Made In China....

7234609 Article dispensing system and method for same, Michael DeLazzer, Franz Kuehnrich (redbox), Jun 26, 2007, 221/10; 221/93; 221/97; 221/133; 221/191; 221/281; 221/287
this patent outlines the key features some of which are:

each machine is linked via satellite to a central control station that can interact with each machine in many ways
You can check the inventory of your local machine on line and rent on line then to pick up you only enter your email and zip code and swipe the charge card.
The door on the front of the machine uses an RFID tag system to unlock so when a cartridge is going to be replaced the door unlocks when it's approached.
The cartridges are replaced not by a route driver like conventional vending machines but by the driver of a common carrier like Fedex or UPS.
The Foodmax is open 24/7 so you now have 24/7 access to DVD rentals at $1 (plus tax) each including new releases.
2,000 DVD capacity.

11/408607 System and method for calibrating a vending apparatus - is an application that is mostly a continuation of the first patent.

Problems

There is a very limited number of available titles (about 200) compared to a brick and mortar Video Store (20,000) or even a supermarket video rental room, let alone an on line rental system like Block Buster (>80,000) or Net Flix (>100,000). This may just be a startup issue or a business decision by redbox? Limited phone support hours 1 (866)-733-2693 No idea what hours they are there "leave a message".
The on line trailer feature did not work for me and at the same time the store locator also had a window saying something like OOPS not available now.

redbox has the capability of offering as many titles as the others, but in the end is much more expensive. For example with a gallon of gas at $ 3.60 (Apr 2008) if you make a special trip the actual cost is very high. If there happens to be a redbox machine at a store you frequent or on your route to or form that store then it's not so expensive. Having the mailman deliver and pickup the videos may be a lot lower cost option.

Cult TV - many good TV shows covered
Lycos Guide to TV Shows -
Ultimate TV - good links to TV & Movies

1984406 Recording and Indicating Sound, Earl H. Foley, Dec 18, 1934, 369/119 - record sound on movie film

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