Tiny Lister – Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers

The Fifth Element, 1997

Hello and welcome to another all new, exciting edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This go around Dion Baia and J. Blake are celebrating the 20th anniversary of a Sci-Fi film that is held in a very high regard by many and conversely disliked by many others- so much so that upon it’s release it was hailed as both the best and worst summer blockbuster of all time! Wow, how polarizing! But the fellas are talking a SNMS audience favorite this week with Luc Besson‘s iconic film The Fifth Element, from 1997.

After briefly chatting about epic hair pieces and martial-art movies, Blake and Dion get down to business and reminisce about the summer of 1997 when this film was released and all the other movies they remember that were out that season. The boys both relate their experiences of seeing The Fifth Element in the theater, and discuss director Luc Besson‘s catalog, particularly his 2008 classic Taken, and their mutual love for the director’s film prior to this one, Léon: The Professional. They go into the background in the creation of Fifth Element‘s story, and the journey Besson went on getting this to the screen. They look at the gorgeous futuristic world that was created by French artists Jean-Claude Mézières and Jean (Moebius) Giraud, and the subsequential lawsuit that was filed against Besson after the film’s release. Dion and Blake gush over their mutual love for Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman, and attempt to contrast this movie against other futuristic, Future Noir, Sci-Fi properties that are comparable to this one. They speculate on Chris Tucker‘s potential real-life influences on his Ruby Rhod character, and also note Besson‘s reoccuring theme of older men helping younger women (or even young girls as in The Professional ) and how it oddly, in his case, mimics the director’s real life to an extent. So does the pairing of CGI, miniature and Practical Effects hold up, and because of their pairing, actually help the longevity? Why is this film so darn polarizing to fans and critics to begin with? And did John Carpenter actually successfully sue Luc Besson? Well grab your Multi Passes, your Zorg Industries ZF-1 Pod Weapons Systems, and make sure you’re blocking any incoming calls from Mr. Shadow, because we’re all going to the 23rd Century this week and an all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Here’s China Pop Diva Jane Chang doing the impossible, singing live the Diva Dance.

Take a look at Milla Jovovich’s screen test for The Fifth Element.

Have a gander at Milla Jovovich’s costume tests for Leeloo.

Check out Milla Jovovich talking about being 19 and being cast in The Fifth Element.

Take a look at Chris Tucker talking about playing Ruby Rhod.

Here’s some great behind the scenes footage of The Fifth Element.

Have a look at the official 1997 Cannes Press Conference with the cast and crew.

Now take a look at the MTV hosted Cannes Afterparty for The Fifth Element.

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Category: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

March 25

No Holds Barred, 1989

Welcome back to another exciting, informative and downright hilarious episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! With WrestleMania 32 coming upon us, this week Dion Baia and J. Blake have gone through their attic collection of cardboard boxes filled with old clam-shell cased VHS tapes to find an absolute sleepover classic- something, which to be frank may not go down as one of the best films in cinematic history, but a film that seized on the wrestling craze of the 1980’s and became the pinnacle of that genre. We are of course talking about the legendary Hulk Hogan vehicle, No Holds Barred, from 1989.

No Holds Barred

Boy do the fellas get back to their childhood roots with this one, as they reminisce about growing up watching all things wrestling in mid-80s: be it the Saturday Morning cartoon, the live action TV shows and events, or even playing with all the great merchandize. Blake and Dion really get into the history of wrestling to set the table, particularly once it became a huge organization headed by Vince McMahon in the 1980s and 90s, disseminating the various leagues, like WWF, WWE, WCW, and even touch upon the rare hardcore fan favorite NJPW or New Japan Pro Wrestling that many of the classic wrestlers we know and love participated in during the 1980s. They even touch upon the phenomenon of backyard wrestling in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They also explain the behind the scenes anatomy of an actual wrestling match, and the progressive journey that wrestling has taken, now being almost a male soap opera, telling telenovela-esque storylines that has lured people in for decades now. The guys also go through the Hulkster‘s career rise, culminating with him becoming probably the single most famous wrestler of all time, before getting to their main event (pun intended), No Hold Barred. Dion and Blake are the first to admit this film is horrendously beautiful, and fully embrace all the shortcomings it may have so to bask in all the movie’s inherit sleepover nostalgic splendor. How involved was Hogan and McMahon in the behind the scenes production of the film? What pay per view event did the WWF create to try to fully exploit this film’s release? Did this film actually foreshadow what would happen a decade later with Ted Turner and his creation of WCW, and luring famous wrestlers to defect from WWF? And what hilarious story does Blake have about the fella’s old friend, famous Tony Award winning Jersey Boy’s actor John Lloyd Young, while Blake lived with him in the early 2000s? Well get out your knee pads, your do-rags, (and perhaps your razor blades…) and follow the boys down memory lane for probably their purest exercise in the pantheon of Sleepover movies, on another brand new edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!