film club picLast month I went back to School to join a High School film club at their 24 hour film festival. Yup, that’s right, 24 hours of movie watch, and it include 11 movies from 10 a.m. Saturday Morning to 10 a.m. Sunday morning!

The show is put on by two amazing teacher friends whom I met at BNAT (Butt-Numb-A-Thon); the ultimate 24 hour movie marathon. Yup.

These two fine fellows run the Film Club of their high school and they put together one hell of a line up for the students. This is actually their 5th Annual 24 hour movie marathon and I’m honored to have attended the last three!  Yup. I am a lucky movie watcher!

Now these are films that MOST of these kids have NEVER ever seen. Yup. It’s 24 hours of film exposure as a way to introduce a new generation to movies beyond what’s hitting theaters each weekend. When you think about it, kids these days don’t watch movies they way we did as a young film watchers. Who stays up late watching cable television? There’s the internet, smartphones and tablets at their fingertips and YouTube!

I will just say that It’s awesome that there’s a High School with cool teachers teachers who have a place to bring movies of all sorts to young minds! Yup!!

The show started with a video, 3 minutes of film history, and trailers: THE DIRTY DOZEN and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.

hateful 8THE HATEFUL 8, from Quentin Tarantino rolled on screen! This is the longest movie they’ve ever shown at one of the marathons! I was glad to give HATEFUL another view. The last time I saw it was at the New Bev and it was the Roadshow version. Now, it’s not my favorite Tarantino movie, but oh how I love Kurt Russell!  It seemed like the young kids dug the movie, so QT has the power of appeal for all ages. 😉

Next up it was time for a Black and White movie dealing with social issues! But of course we got a preview first and it was for OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

SullivanThe second movie screened was SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1942) directed by Preston Sturges and starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake. Here we have a big time director (played by Joel McCrea) who’s made some successful films and wants his next feature to be a commentary on life’s social issues but then realizes he knows nothing about what your average joe is dealing with day to day. So, the thing to do is dress like a hobo, ride the rails and experience the other side of life. Along the way he meets Veronica Lake, an aspiring actress who doesn’t want to leave his side. If you’ve never seen SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, then you should! It holds up and you realize Hollywood politics haven’t changed, people want to make movies and there’s something to be said about movies that make people laugh and feel happy.

The thematic trailers before the next movie were MAJOR LEAGUE and A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, so it was time to step up to the plate for more BASEBALL! BAD NEWS BEARS (1976). I like this movie. I remember just watching parts as a kid, never from beginning to end. When I did finally see it all I realized then just how offensive a little film it is, yup. But hey, it’s got heart! That makes it ok? Yes? Hmmm…

So much drinking from Walter Matthau who’s the underdog baseball coach Buttermaker. He’s got to pull a rag tag team of rejects together, between racist remarks, swear words and more alcohol, so there’s just a ton of SPIRIT. I love Tatum O’Neal as Amanda, the girl who can pitch and of course the bad boy Kelly who is Jackie Earle Haley! Man was he so gawky but tough. 😉 Only in the 70’s could you get away with no helmets for kids who road motorbikes. GO BEARS!

bears

GO BEARS GO! Can I have a beer too?

Before the next film we had trailers for MOONRISE KINGDOM and MOULIN ROUGE! 

UmbrellasUMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (1964) was next.The musical and foreign film portion of the show! UMBRELLAS is one of my favorite favorite movies which I’ve been fortunate to see on a big screen a few times. It’s beautiful, dreamy, colorful, heartbreaking and again just so beautiful. The film is all done with sung dialogue.

Geneviève, played by Catherine Deneuve, works at an umbrella shop. She’s in love with Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), a mechanic. Geneviève is so young, but she and Guy are so in love and have plans of marriage, children, a living a love filled life together. Guy is drafted and must go away! Once he is gone, Geneviève finds herself pregnant. This sort of drama-rama really got a rise out of the teenage crowd watching the screen. There were so many oooh’s and ahhh’s and cheers and claps between acts/songs. It was quite a movie going experience. I just couldn’t wait to see how the kids responded to the end of the film, especially knowing what was coming. I’d say the film was a hit. Maybe some teens were actually feeling emotional?!?

Now it was time for some Comedy and a dash of horror! The kids were about to get some insight to classic comedies! To set the tone, as we watched the DUDE/SWEET scenes from DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR? 

And the classic “Who’s on First?” by Abbott & Costello!

AbbottandCostelloABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) hit the screen. How can one not enjoy this movie? Abbott and Costello as Chick and Wilbur, respectively are a pair of baggage handlers who get mixed up in a delivery of Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Frankenstein to a house of horrors. There’s also the Wolf-Man (Lon Chaney Jr.) who’s wolfing out over the many full moon nights. The mission, between gags and mishaps and laughs, is to try and stop Dracula from resurrecting Frankenstein with a new mindless mind a.k.a. Wilbur’s brain! I think this film does it what it does best, bringing the gags and laughs. Yup.

The next film was THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998) (after a trailer for DUMB & DUMBER). I haven’t seen MARY from beginning to end the whole way through since I last saw it in theaters. That was in 1998! Geez, 1998 and I realize I can thank MARY for the “I’m just fucking with you” line (right?), and gross-out humor that these days has gone way beyond what MARY did. I will admit I get picky when it comes to comedies, but I had fun with MARY then and it made me laugh again now! There’s charm and heart deep down in this movie, and those bits shine through. The kids laughed along, got grossed out and so a good comedy is timeless.

MARY

What About Mary?

Now it was midnight! Time for a scary horror movie. We got a trailer to THE CONJURING 2 and watched a short called THE SMILING MAN. 

ED2EVIL DEAD 2 (1987) played! I couldn’t have been happier. Anyone reading this knows that EVIL DEAD 2 movie is among my absolute faves! Ash (Bruce Campbell) takes his girlfriend, Linda, to a cabin in the woods. After some flirting he finds and plays a tape that has some magic words from the Necronomicon and when spoken (played) aloud evil is let loose. His girlfriend is taken, the blood bath begins. Then you have more people coming to the cabin, for more blood and gore. What’s not to love!!?!?!? I could watch this movie again and again. Yea Raimi and Campbell! Pretty sure this movie kept the kids awake and scared some others. They cheered at “GROOVY”.

Then to lighten the mood the during the early morning hours we went back to comedy, and we got a trailer for JUNO.

SUPERBAD (2007) was next and it was likely a movie some of the kids had already seen.

superbadI saw SUPERBAD in theaters when it first came out. Weird to think this movie is already 9 years old! Where does the time go?! So it’s a dude bro movie of two best buds who are about to leave high school and go off to college, going different places. On this night they’re finally getting the chance to attend a big party! They must venture out in search of some alcohol and just get into trouble. Oh so many mishaps and foul language! Oh, I can’t forget McLovin, what a scamp. It’s a funny movie, the kids laughed along. I like seeing GLENDALE in the movie. I say it is fun seeing places you grew up around in movies. But hey, that’s just me. I don’t really have much more to say on this one, just that it was funny then and funny now.

And then once again it was time for more horror! This time it was a movie I had never seen! Yea! A new movie for me! But first! Trailer time! LIGHTS OUT and DON’T BREATH.

hushThe horror movie, currently on Netflix, HUSH (2016) hit the screen. I’d been hearing some about this one but hadn’t thought to watch it, so here was my chance. A deaf, mute woman, Maddie, is isolated in a cabin in the woods. She’s got a neighbor friend, and talks to friends on her computer with face time. She’s feeling a little broken hearted and she’s trying to write a new book, but then it’s just wrong place, wrong time. A masked man kills Maddie’s neighbor on her porch but being deaf she didn’t notice. The masked man begins to toy with Maddie and once she’s aware of him she’s not going to go down without a fight. It’s a suspenseful thriller.

smokeyAfter trailers for CANNONBALL RUN and HOOPER we hit the back roads and highway with SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977). Burt Reynolds is Bandit! He’s taken on a big bet that he can transport some Coors Beer from Texas to Georgia, because that sort of thing was illegal in 1977! Can you hear the song EAST BOUND AND DOWN playing in your head?

Along the way Bandit is joined by runaway bride Sally Field and of course the sparks fly! They were a cute couple, I mean Sally Field is incredibly adorable! The spurned groom and his daddy, Sheriff Buford T. Justice is played by Jackie Gleason, are they are in hot pursuit of Bandit and Bride! Poor Sheriff Justice, he’s constantly duped and his car gets so damaged, but it’s all for the laughs! Yup!

And then as we were reaching the morning hours it was time for the last and 11th movie of the marathon! Whew! Good thing there were donuts!

What was the last movie going to be? My teacher pals, who did intros between all the movies (d’oh I forgot to mention that earlier) said how they’d each often make references to this next movie in their classes and couldn’t believe it hadn’t been seen. So indeed it was a good finale pick! The trailer before it was INCEPTION.

matrixTHE MATRIX (1999) began to play. I love THE MATRIX. To date myself, because WHATEVER, I was lucky to see an early screening of it while in College at San Francisco. All my friends and I knew about it was the teaser trailer that was out and the tagline of “WHAT IS THE MATRIX?” Having those kinds of moments in cinema have gotten more rare. What did we expect from the Wachowski’s? Well the movie was amazing!

THE MATRIX still stands up just as strong now! Neo is a hacker trying to find out what the Matrix is and of course once he does there’s no turning back. THE MATRIX is a great film and it was a great ending to an amazing marathon!

I did’t stick around much longer to get some feedback from the kids I had chatted with throughout the night. I was TIRED! It was time for bed! I was ready to close my eyes!

Yes, I survived! 11 movies! 24 Hours! I'm ready for next year!

Yes, I survived! 11 movies! 24 Hours! I’m ready for next year! Yup Yup Yup!!!

11 Movies! 24 Hours! One Awesome Movie Marathon Adventure! Movies shared, old and new and it’s good to experience movies with new viewers, see how these films hold up, or maybe don’t! There’s so much movie history and I just gotta keep watching movies when and where I can! I’m glad I stayed awake for 24 hours, but thinking about it is making me tired again! 😉 Yup! Let’s Watch Movies! Yup!