Hi folks and welcome to the The Friday Film Club where both myself and Elwood will be highlighting a film which we feel is worth checking out. At the same time we would love to hear your own selections whether you’re choosing to just name them in the comments section or join us in arguing the case for your film on your blog, let us know and we will share it below.
Elwood’s Pick – Dark Star (1974)
Set in the mid-22nd century were the crew of the scout ship Dark Star are twenty years into their mission to destroy unstable planets which will hamper the future colonisation of space. However when one of their bombs gets stuck in the bomb bay the crew must find a way to deactivate it or face being blown up by their own bomb.
The student film of John Carpenter while studying at the University of Southern California and a project which would see him teaming up with the equally legendary Dan O’Bannon with the duo taking on multiple roles with Carpenter serving as writer, producer, director and composer. He would also overdub the character of Talby after Andreijah “Dre” Pahich proved to have too thick an accent. O’Bannon meanwhile contributed to the script, editing and special effects as well as appearing in the film as Pinback.
Dark Star is a scrappy indie film which somehow manages to work around its budget restrictions and introduces the idea of blue collar space which O’Bannon would further explore to great effect with Alien. Here space is less about brave crews venturing into the unknown but instead it’s just another workplace and this is one is just as crappy as any other with the crew constantly trying to find distractions to break up the tedium, their supply of toilet roll has been lost and the alien they brought on the ship resembles a beach ball with feet.
Peppered with some great comedic moments from Muppet esq antics as Pinback attempts to recapture the alien though to the attempts by the ships Captain Doolittle to reason with the talking bomb threatening the ship. The film constantly manages to be surprising while playing off the 70’s counter culture of the era.
A flop on it’s initial release thanks to limited screenings and poor marketing the film would find a dedicated cult following through word of mouth and midnight screenings and even now it’s a film worth discovering especially when it’s influence can be still be felt in everything from Alien and Snowpiercer through to Red Dwarf.
Kim ‘s Pick – Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (2012)
Adapted from Dr. Seuss’s children’s book of the same name, this second adaptation is a 3D computer animated musical film which builds upon the story and sets in the future where Thneedville is now an artificial closed city where the air needs to be bought and there are no more real nature existing in this area but replaced by plastic and fake decorations. When Ted (Zac Efron) talks to a Audrey (Taylor Swift), a girl he likes who says that she would love to see a real tree again, he learns through his grandmother (Betty White) the rumor that if he left the city to find the Once-ler (Ed Helms), he could get a tree seed. His encounter of the Once-ler leads to the telling of his story of how he was the to blame for all the trees now being gone with his desire to make success out of his creation the Thneed despite the warning of The Lorax (Danny DeVito) decades ago.
From a story aspect, this adaptation of The Lorax adds a new layer to the original. Its not quite as true to the original source material even in its story told of the Once-ler but rather it expands on the main points to add some comedic elements despite its serious environmental and societal message that it brings at the end. The present setting of Thneedville is also pretty great especially as an animated story point of view in 2012 seeing as nowadays, the future is presented in many movies as losing our natural resources in one way or another as well. Thneedville reflects on society as well and the need for the balance of nature to be present.
This whole story is really brought together by the musical elements. The scenes are pieced together by the songs itself which are colorful and catchy. It spreads evenly throughout the film and fits well with the story. Its probably these moments that add to this adaptation the most since it adds in a lot more fun moments (considering you do like musicals). Much like the animation itself also beautifully animated especially with how the Truffula trees are animated and the contrast of the colorful land versus the dark and dreary one after the land is emptied and polluted.
Adaptations, especially ones loved by many like this one, and their success truly lies on how well their changes and additions work for its viewers in general. As a story for a younger audience, it still works rather well since it does deliver a good message in a fairly straightforward, entertaining and colorful way and adds a “modernized” side to the future of Thneedville. Its a nice and creative angle to take even if some bits are fairly silly. At the very least, the decent voice cast with Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, Jenny Slate, Ed Helms and Rob Riggle all also make this worth a watch.
So you’ve seen our picks for this week’s double feature but what are your movie watching plans this weekend?
Let us know in the comments section below.
Movies and Tea 