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| Earl |
 Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:44 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Befade wrote: Quote: I'm a native Pennsylvanian and in 1987 would have been only a few years older than the movie's main character. Much of what I saw in Adventureland, which takes place near Pittsburgh, connected with me on a personal level.
I didn't know that Earl. Where? I grew up in Pgh (Ben Avon Hgts.). and still go back to visit my brother (Monroeville) and father. My brother is not a movie buff but for Christmas I always give him a dvd of a movie made in Pgh. (Smart People, Wonderboys) Now I can plan for next Christmas. And I'm sold on seeing Adventureland.
I grew up in York, way over in the other side of the state of PA.
I don't know if Adventureland was actually filmed around Pittsburgh or its suburbs; it's just set there. But a lot of exterior shots sure looked like Pennsylvania geography to me.
One of the many things with which I connected was an image the kids in the movie have of New York City. I remember this from when I was little. Even though NYC was a short drive, bus or train trip away from Pennsylvania in geographical terms, culturally it was thought of as a different planet, a kind of golden mecca of fun. It was a very big deal whenever some of the older kids in my neighborhood announced they were making a trip to "The City." (The two words were even pronounced with a kind of awe, implying that both should be capitalized.) They would invariably return with thrilling tales of parties, clubs, music, etc.
The idea that you could just hop on a bus and a few hours later be in a place like that? Well, it exerts a tremendous gravitational pull on late teens and early twentysomethings. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:24 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| I saw ADVENTURELAND again tonight. The audience was primarily in their late teens and early 20s. They were not "getting" the movie. And I know why. The movie is set in 1984. It has a great 80s soundtrack. It's a love story. The humor is subtle. And the movie is really for people who were in their late teens and early 20s in 1984. That means the ideal audience for ADVENTURELAND are people in their 40s. It's a shame that today's young audiences are so jaded by the slew of gross-out comedies that have slimed the screens of cineplexes in shopping malls across America that they can't relate to a well-written and acted film in which teenagers are depicted as intelligent and sensitive people. The humor in ADVENTURELAND is not on the fart joke level. You know you're dealing with a unique teenage comedy when the main character is seen reading Henry Miller's "Quiet Days In Clichy" and the film references Melville, Gogol and Shakespeare's sonnets. It's a real shame that the audience for this film is not aware of its quality and the audiences that are going to see it are also not aware of its quality. ADVENTURELAND's distributor needs to re-think the way they are marketing this film. It should have been sold as a comedy in the spirit of JUNO and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (neither of which I liked, but both were commercially successful). As you can tell, I'm a hardcore ADVENTURELAND fan and it may end up being my favorite film of the year. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 10:34 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Agree that it's a movie for people past adolescence, not for people of the characters' age. I felt the same way about Buffy the Vampire Slayer—the show, not the movie. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:04 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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Marc wrote: ...ADVENTURELAND's distributor needs to re-think the way they are marketing this film. It should have been sold as a comedy in the spirit of JUNO and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (neither of which I liked, but both were commercially successful). As you can tell, I'm a hardcore ADVENTURELAND fan and it may end up being my favorite film of the year.
The distributor is Miramax, and they are marketing the heck out of it (badly).
I'm a 'fan' of Miramax on Facebook. Long before the positive remarks appeared here, Miramax was bombarding its FB fans with lots of publicity about "Adventureland." The latest is an easy contest one enters (you must be a texter) with the prize of an autographed script.
The marketing has been a turnoff IMO. I saw the unappealing Coming Attractions a number of times. I was turned off by the campaign on FB because it was so excessive - multiple large messages on a daily basis that filled my homepage.
I haven't seen the movie (will try to do so soon). Nice to know that it's worth seeing. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:14 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| Miramax and the Weinstein brothers are scumbags. They have an exclusive deal with Blockbuster to distribute their dvds for rental. Small indie dvd stores cannot order Miramax dvds for rental. They are forced to buy them from retail outlets. Fuck em! |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 1:37 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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carrobin wrote: ...
...
Anyway, my question is---
When I first saw the film, when it came out originally, there was a scene in which James Coburn, on the run in Greenwich Village, ducked into a crowded little movie theater. He made his way to a center seat for the best hiding place, and started to watch the screen. The audience around him was gazing in horror and fear, but as he watched--and we saw only the audience, so we didn't know what was on their screen--he smiled, then he giggled, and then he laughed out loud. The other audience members started looking at him angrily, and he got up and left.
Now, I have not seen that scene again in any TV showing of the film. And I figured, if it wasn't in the TCM version, I must have gotten it mixed up with some other movie. But I'm 99.5 percent certain it was "The President's Analyst." So does anyone else remember that scene?
...
You piqued my curiosity so I went to the imdb.com to read "trivia" and "user comments." There are six pp. of comments. I only it to the end of p.1 (no ans.), but you might check out pp. 2 thru 6. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:11 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2148
Location: my computer
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Re Twilight - haven't seen the movie (not sure I will) but am enjoying the books. I'm not looking at the deeper meanings as much as I'm enjoying the imaginative writing. And Meyer has a gift for writing, even if she does stray to somewhat overdone poetry at times. Then again, she's writing from the POV of a teenage girl, so it makes sense that the voice is well represented.
Re: Phoenix in Two Lovers: I haven't seen it, but Adrian Brody has that same haunted, lost, beautiful aura as is evidenced in The Pianist. And he wouldn't go wiggy like Phoenix did. 
Re: Pretty Woman, I agree with Gary. It is a Cinderella story, just like The American President, and just as much fun to watch. I don't look at the social commentary of it at all, and never have. It's just a good movie.
And Betsy - why do people have to disagree? 'cause if we didn't, the whole forum would be made up of "you're right" or "I agree" or the ever-lovin' "ditto"...*shudders*  |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:42 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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| Mo: Thanks for the suggestion on "President's Analyst." I went through all the comments on IMDb and there was indeed some interesting information from knowledgeable fans about scenes that had been cut and music that had been changed. And evidently one cut scene was the one in which Coburn met his girlfriend toward the beginning of the film--in a theater showing an experimental film. That has to be what I remember. But why cut it? I was thinking, watching the film yesterday, that it would be really helpful to know how they got together. And the scene is one of only two that I recall clearly from my first viewing of the film. (The other is when Pat Harrington shows up at the end. Great scene.) |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:06 am |
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Quote: And Betsy - why do people have to disagree? 'cause if we didn't, the whole forum would be made up of "you're right" or "I agree" or the ever-lovin' "ditto"...*shudders*
Yeah, like the fan boys and girls on the TV forum, where Sioux took exception to me saying, that after watching The Dollhouse, it wasn't for me. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:08 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I took Betsy's comment as a little joke. After all, disagreements are fun. (At least when you come from South Carolina, where almost everyone is very polite and one yearns for a good argument.) |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:11 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: my computer
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| Psssst...carrobin....so did I. Hence the "wink". |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:26 am |
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carrobin wrote: I took Betsy's comment as a little joke. After all, disagreements are fun. (At least when you come from South Carolina, where almost everyone is very polite and one yearns for a good argument.)
That southern politeness turns me off and it's a phony affectation that goes way back to the bad old days. The Japanese have a culture that incorporates that also. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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marantzo wrote: Quote: And Betsy - why do people have to disagree? 'cause if we didn't, the whole forum would be made up of "you're right" or "I agree" or the ever-lovin' "ditto"...*shudders*
Yeah, like the fan boys and girls on the TV forum, where Sioux took exception to me saying, that after watching The Dollhouse, it wasn't for me.
Oh that's bullshit. You posted your first review that you didn't like the show, and no one complained, but then you kept coming in the following weeks to interrupt our discussions just to say that over and over. For what purpose? You were pissing in the punchbowl. |
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-Topher |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:36 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: my computer
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Boys, take it to the Lobby. Or BTC. Or not.
Should I make popcorn? |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:05 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Joe Vitus wrote: marantzo wrote: Quote: And Betsy - why do people have to disagree? 'cause if we didn't, the whole forum would be made up of "you're right" or "I agree" or the ever-lovin' "ditto"...*shudders*
Yeah, like the fan boys and girls on the TV forum, where Sioux took exception to me saying, that after watching The Dollhouse, it wasn't for me.
Oh that's bullshit. You posted your first review that you didn't like the show, and no one complained, but then you kept coming in the following weeks to interrupt our discussions just to say that over and over. For what purpose? You were pissing in the punchbowl.
Gary, does this all the time. And I think he thinks it's funny. When we did a forum on the book, "East of Eden" he took part but couldn't stand the book, making sure we knew it at every turn.
Try to shrug it off, Joe. I guess this is how Gary get's his kicks. |
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