Hey, everyone.
I don't know if there's already a thread for this, so if there is feel free to merge mine with that one. But I was just curious, to see what others' interests were.
As a kid, born in 1980, I grew up primarily with Disney classics on VHS. In fact, the first movie I recall seeing in a theater was "Oliver & Company" - I was just 8 years old. But around the same time, my folks recorded a TV special on NBC, called "Back to the Future Night". It was hosted by Leslie Nielsen, and they played the original 1985 movie starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. During the station breaks, various "behind the scenes" clips were shown, regarding the upcoming sequel "Back to the Future Part II". I was hooked on that movie from the very beginning, and probably wore that tape out by watching it so many times over the course of a full year. By the time "Part II" came out in December of 1989, I was super-primed, and it exceeded all my expectations. I enjoyed the third chapter as well, but the original is still the best in my opinion.
As I started to grow up, my tastes began to shift just a little bit. I read some comic books as a child, but I didn't devour them like crazy. Still, during my teen years in the mid-1990s, I enjoyed smaller films in that genre like "The Rocketeer", "The Shadow", and later "The Phantom". But when I was 15, I saw "The Crow" for the first time...and that experience opened me up to an entirely different form, regarding what both movies and comics could offer. For those who don't know, "The Crow" was released in 1994, and it was based on a 1989 independent graphic novel, written and illustrated by a former Marine named James O'Barr. The book itself was the result of a personal tragedy he suffered in 1978, when his fiancee Beverly was killed by a drunk driver. Unable to cope with all the pain and grief he felt, James channeled everything he felt into his art. But he would later confess, "It wasn't easy to do, and many times it was like picking at scars, or reopening old wounds. That's why it took me eight years to finish it."
On March 31, 1993, the star of "The Crow", Brandon Lee, was accidentally shot by a malfunctioning prop gun, and died later in the hospital. The press quickly got wind of this, and ran with it like crazy. The accident itself was a slight case of "art imitating life", since Lee's character in the film, Eric Draven, is a murdered man resurrected one year later to avenge the deaths of both himself and his would-be bride, Shelly Webster. The movie's director, Alex Proyas, was given the opportunity to shelve the film instead of releasing it. But it was Brandon's mother Linda who asked for it to be finished, and dedicated to her son's memory. So about six months after the tragedy, the film's cast and crew returned to the set, and using both body doubles along with some very clever effects work and script revisions, "The Crow" was completed, and dedicated to both Brandon and his own then-fiancee, Eliza Hutton. Over time, it became a cult classic, spawning three sequels, a short-lived TV series, and countless books by other authors. But for James O'Barr, Brandon's death was almost like losing Beverly all over again. He would remark at least once about that time period, "I wished back then that I had never written the damn thing." He gave most of the profits he earned from the film to charity, considering it "blood money"...and today, he tours the convention circuit as an artist, meeting fans and doing custom sketches. Since he is married now with a family, I once asked him if he ever found the peace he was looking for. His response was brutally honest: "Not from the book, but I did in other ways."
This next one will be pretty long-winded, so I apologize in advance...but another favorite movie of mine is the 2004 version, of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera". It was directed by a man who also helmed one of my favorite 1990s DC Comics films, "Batman Forever" - his name was Joel Schumacher. Now, I'm not into a lot of Gothic fare in general, and there's only a handful of musicals that keep my attention...but I love the story of this film. It was loosely based on Webber's 1986 stage play of the same name, which was itself a very loose adaptation of a 1910 French novel, by author Gaston Leroux. The basic gist of the tale is that in 1870, the well-respected Paris Opera House has been sold to new owners, who hope to make a large profit from the venture. But the company's leading soprano, Carlotta Giudicelli, has spent the past several years being the victim of strange occurrences, which some of her associates say is the work of a mysterious and disfigured creature known only as "the Phantom". After the most recent incident almost crushes her with a piece of set dressing, the owners are forced to find a replacement...and somewhat timid chorus girl Christine Daae is chosen. But what no one knows, not even Christine herself, is that the mysterious "teacher" who has been giving her music lessons is actually the Phantom himself. He has fallen in love with Christine, and soon takes her to his secret lair under the opera house.
The flip side to this part of the story, involves a man named Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny. He and Christine knew each other as children, and after seeing her perform, he also becomes smitten with her. But Raoul underestimates both the Phantom's resourcefulness, and his desperation. The battle between the two over Christine's affections, and her overall safety, eventually begins to escalate, resulting in the Phantom murdering stage hand Joseph Buquet, as a warning to those who might interfere with his plans. Expectedly, this drives Christine away, and she embraces Raoul, but this only angers the Phantom further, as he sees her decision as a personal betrayal after he helped her overcome her insecurities and helped her find her voice. One early morning, the Phantom lures Christine to her father's gravesite at the local cemetery, again attempting to entrance her with his musical abilities and power of suggestion. But Raoul follows, and the two engage in a swordfight. Surprisingly, the Phantom loses, and Raoul is ready to kill him, but Christine stops this, and the two flee.
Three months later, it is New Year's Day, and Christine and Raoul are engaged - the people of Paris host an elaborate party for them. But its not long until the Phantom arrives, threatening the opera house's managers and presenting them with his own written stage play, "Don Juan Triumphant". Noticing the engagement ring around Christine's neck, his previously calm attitude changes, and he furiously tells her, "Your chains are still mine! You belong to me!" He disappears through a trap door, but Raoul follows at the last moment, and finds himself in a hall of mirrors. The opera's chorus trainer, Madame Giry, saves Raoul, and reveals some secrets about the Phantom. Many years earlier, he was a young boy in a traveling circus, which Giry and other chorus girls her age at the time once visited. But the boy's master abused him because of his disfigurement, and while the other chorus members leave, Giry stays behind for a moment, only to witness the boy murder his master in retaliation for his cruelty. Giry ends her story by saying that she hid the boy in the opera house, protecting him from the cruelties of the world, and over time, he became the Phantom. She describes him as "an architect and designer, a composer and magician, a genius"...to which Raoul replies, "Clearly, his genius has turned to madness."
Some time later, the owners decide to perform the Phantom's work, as a way to lure him out as use Christine as bait. But she fearfully says to Raoul, "Please, don't make me do this. I'm terrified". Doing his best to comfort her, Raoul convinces Christine to go ahead with the owners' plan, and one part of the performance features a song called "Past the Point of No Return". Unknown to most of the company or the audience, the Phantom has killed and replaced Ubaldo Piangi, another performer in the show. Recognizing the sound of her mentor's voice, Christine uses the performance to get closer to the Phantom. When he briefly begs Christine to be with him instead of Raoul, she exposes his disfigurement to the audience, which angers him and results in his causing the opera's chandalier to fall, setting the auditorium ablaze. Taking Christine back to his lair, the Phantom demands to know the reason for her repeated betrayals. She confides she no longer fears his distorted face, but rather the darkness in his soul. Having pursued them both, and narrowly escaped one of the Phantom's deadly traps, Raoul arrives, begging the Phantom to show compassion. But he refuses, saying "The world showed no compassion for me!" He ties Raoul to the front gate of his lair, and offers Christine a choice - she can stay with him and Raoul will be freed, or refuse and she will be released, while Raoul will die.
Seeing its a no-win scenario, Christine kisses the Phantom out of sympathy, and to show him there's more than darkness in the world. Moved by this, he lets them both go, but makes them promise never to reveal what they know about him. Christine returns very briefly, giving the Phantom her engagement ring to remember her by. A crowd of authorities starts making its way toward the lair seeking justice for the deaths of Buquet and Piangi. But the Phantom escapes through a hidden passageway, and all that's found is a mask he wore to hide his disfigurement. The last scene of the film depicts a now-elderly Raoul, visiting the grave of the recently-deceased Christine. Laying a music box at her grave marker, he sees a single rose with a black ribbon attached to it, along with the ring he once gave her. Knowing this was the Phantom's mark, he looks around, but no one is there. Its a pretty epic and relatable story, especially if you're a hopeless romantic like me.
Anyway, those are just a few, so feel free to share your own experiences and memories. I'm genuinely interested in the "why" as well as the "what", so please don't just post a title and leave.
I loved Friends and anything on the History Channel, but my kid and hubby watch Airport Security and Forged in Fire 😰 (a competition about welding) the sad thing is that I can now tell what a Damascus Steel is 😫😫