Westworld – Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers

Jurassic Park, 1993

Welcome back to another edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! Dion Baia and J. Blake are back talking about a mega summer blockbuster that turns 25 years old this month, a film that literally changed the face of cinema with its use of DTS and Computer Generated Imagery for the better (or worse, depending on your feelings about CGI vs Practical Effects). That’s right, the boys are chatting the Michael Crichton/Steven Spielberg classic, Jurassic Park, from 1993!

Blake and Dion jump right in, discussing memories of seeing this film that glorious summer of 1993, and how incredible the visuals and audio were for cinema-goers at the time. They discuss the revolutionary Special Effects within this movie and how they evolved with the story from being robotic and stop-motion effects, to ground-breaking CGI. They cover the inception of this story from the brilliant mind of Michael Crichton, and how he was able to sell this idea to Steven Spielberg even before the book was published. They also dissect Spielberg‘s choices within the film and the moments that have now become that of cinema legend! So grab your partners, pile into the autonomous Ford Explorers, and whatever you do, don’t get out of the vehicles if there’s a power outrage, because the fellas are talking dinosaurs this week with an all new installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Check out this 1993 behind-the-scenes making-of documentary on Jurassic Park!

Take a look at these great and rare behind the scenes footage at Stan Wintson’s workshop, developing the various practical dinosaur Effects!

Here’s a great behind-the-scenes featurette creating and sculpting the full-size T-Rex dinosaur!

Have a gander at this great interview with Michael Crichton talking about Jurassic Park.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Category: Action, Adventure, Books, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Thriller | 2 Comments

September 29

Blade Runner, 1982

Hello and welcome to another episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! The boys are back and taking on one of the most iconic Sci-Fi movies of all time, one that is still lauded and debated 35 years after it was first released. J. Blake and Dion Baia are chatting about the Future Noir classic, Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner, from 1982.

Blade Runner

The fellas are probably tackling their biggest topic to date, meaning with arguably 5-8 versions of the film, entire books written about the movie, and even a 3 and a half-hour documentary on the subject- there seemed to be a lot to unpack and get into. Applying the SNMS method, Dion and Blake decided to watch the original 1982 International Cut of the film (which was the version subsequently released on home video and laserdisc), as well as read the original source novel, Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? by Science Fiction legend Philip K. Dick. Also for reference, they screened the little seen 1982 Workprint version which was released in the massive 2007 boxset. The boys compare the film(s) to the book and discuss the differences that were dropped or added, and lay out a sizable portion of novel’s subplots like the Empathy Boxes and the religion Mercerism that were eliminated to condense the story to fit into a two-hour feature film. They get into a very in-depth, semi-intellectual conversation about the moral questions posed within the book and film, as well as how the movie’s title came to be. Delving probably into their most ‘meta’ discussion on the podcast to date, they highlight the ethical and fundamental issues raised within the story, as well as their own personal feelings regarding these huge topics. So, how different is the original 1968 book to the 1982 version that was released in theaters? What about the various versions that have come out in the years since and the subtle differences in each? And what about the notorious and highly polarizing “voiceover” track by Harrison Ford that was dropped in the later cuts of the film, and the reasons why it was included and then excluded in subsequent releases? And the biggest question for Blade Runner and Do Android Dream of Electric Sheeps? fans: is Rick Deckard an ‘Andy‘ or Replicant? Well, you better grab all your Poopsheets, your Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test kits and dial your mood organs to the correct settings, because the lads are taking you for a ride in their Spinners, in this all new edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Check out the original 1982 trailer for the film!

Have a look at all the deleted, alternate and extended scenes from Blade Runner!

Discussed in the podcast, here is the 2015 BBC Radio adaptation of Do Androids of Electric Sheep?!

Here is all things Blade Runner, on the fansite BRmovie.com!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Category: Adventure, Books, Classic, Crime, Fantasy, Police, Sci Fi | LEAVE A COMMENT

September 11

The Last Starfighter, 1984

To close out the long and hot summer, J. Blake and Dion Baia have embarked on a journey that will take them out of the trailer park canyons of California and up into the galaxy to help defend the cosmos against horrifying alien evildoers who are hell-bent on, well… doing whatever they plan to do- and the key to this adventure is provided to us by one cleverly disguised, humble arcade game console. Yes, we are talking about the highly-underated 1984 film The Last Starfighter, directed by Nick Castle.

Yes Joystick Jockeys, this cult classic is hailed as the first film to showcase CGI Imagery to replace the tradition Stop-Motion and Practically Special Effects, and is sometimes forgotten for that milestone. But how does a space film in a post-Star Wars world stand out without ultimately being compared to the property that set the bar? The boys reminisce about the era of the late 1970’s and 80’s when one actually had to go out of their house and travel to a local arcade or restaurant if they wanted to socialize while gaming, and/or see the latest and greatest in video game technology vis-à-vis the big console units. Has time and the public been fair to this ground-breaking film? Can this movie actually be considered as influential as Star Wars in certain circles? And what’s this film’s 3-way connection to John Carpenter? And does Blake‘s Lance Guest story really involve a late-night encounter in the adult section of a 24-hour New York City store? Well we’re not pulling any punches on this all new edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! Inter-stellar!!

(Check out the site for the Kenner Star Wars toys documentary discussed in this podcast entitled, Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys.)

(Here’s the link to Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America, the great book that discusses the history of game consoles; the success of Mario starting from the failed arcade console Radar Scope which was then converted into the legendary Donkey Kong, leading to the rise of Nintendo and the legacy we are all familiar with today.)

(Have a look at composer Craig Safan conduct a performance of The Last Starfighter Suite, live!)

(The name of the Cleveland Restaurant that had VHS tapes to watch behind the bar was The Greenhouse Tavern)

(And on a COMPLETELY unrelated note, here is Dion meeting to man, the myth, the legend- Mr. Ron Jeremy)