Lifetime Movies: 1982

This year kicks off a run of craziness as I've seen so many of these movies--and so many times on TV through the years--that it's hard to separate quality from comforting nostalgia. But the unpaid professional that I am, I will give it my all.

Nominees: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Poltergeist, The Thing

E.T. was a phenomenon, one of those cross-cultural events before the landscape fragmented in the 90s. Like the Thriller of movies. Everyone liked E.T. and there's  no reason to try to say anything different. Director Steven Spielberg had quite a year as he also produced Poltergeist, the E.T. of horror movies. It's generally believed that he actually did much more directing than credited director Tobe Hooper and based on track records and final product, it's hard not to believe it's true. This was a genuinely scary movie and remains so today. The Thing was director John Carpenter at his creative peak and is still one of the best science fiction/horror films ever made. Did you notice I skipped a nominee? I'm a big Cameron Crowe fan and while he didn't direct Fast Times, he did write the script which was both of the moment and timeless. This film is funny and poignant and a pitch perfect depiction of American teenagers. It also captures the transition between the dazed and confused 70s and the greed is good 80s better than just about anything else.

Winner: Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Notes: I've fallen into the bad habit of feeling like I have to mention every movie I liked during a given year instead of just hitting on a few of particular interest. Like Swamp Thing. I remember seeing it in the theater (despite the nudity and violence--awesome head crushing scene--this was rated PG. Gotta love the 80s) and some teenager was walking up and down the aisles completely wrapped in toilet paper pretending to be the title character. You wouldn't see that today...Rocky III may have been the most fun film in the series. Mr. T and Hulk Hogan? No doubt this led to the first Wrestlemania and all its historical magnitude...I'm not sure when I saw Creepshow, but it's a movie I still think about and reference. Especially the final story, "They're Creeping Up on You!" You know the one: germaphobe jerk sealed up in his apartment is overrun by cockroaches. Horrible, just horrible...The Beastmaster was another favorite at the time and the best example of one of the many phases I went through as a kid (sword-and-sorcery)...Then there's Blade Runner. I won't say much here because we touch on it in more depth in an upcoming podcast/Ridley Scott Distillery, but I will let you know I'm not a big fan. (I wouldn't be surprised if Vin picked it as his favorite. That or Diner, which I haven't seen in a long time, though I know I should.)

Distillery: Steven Spielberg

Film	Year	Vin	Frank
Duel	1971	-	+
The Sugarland Express	1974	x	x
Jaws	1975	+	+
Close Encounters of the Third Kind	1977	+	+
1941	1979	-	-
Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981	+	+
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial	1982	+	+
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	1984	+	+
The Color Purple	1985	x	x
Empire of the Sun	1987	x	x
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	1989	+	+
Always	1989	x	x
Hook	1991	-	x
Jurassic Park	1993	+	+
Schindler's List	1993	+	+
The Lost World: Jurassic Park	1997	+	-
Amistad	1997	-	+
Saving Private Ryan	1998	+	+
Artificial Intelligence: AI	2001	+	-
Minority Report	2002	+	+
Catch Me If You Can	2002	x	+
The Terminal	2004	+	-
War of the Worlds	2005	-	-
Munich	2005	+	+
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	2008	-	-
FINAL DISTILLATION		56%	56%

Key: + = Film Liked; - = Film Not Liked; x = Film Not Seen

Single Malt Cinema: Episode 1.0

You'll never forget where you were when you first heard this episode as Vin and Frank introduce their paradigm-shifting invention The Distillery. Your and Steven Spielberg's lives will never be the same.




Want SMC to Go? Download the full show here.

And let us know what you think or suggest future topics at singlemaltcinema@gmail.com.

Playlist: Amblin'

Doing a little prep work for the next podcast, I watched Amblin', a 26 minute film from 1968. Oh, right...directed by a pre-bearded Steven Spielberg. Besides being the inspiration for his future production company name, it's also a perfect artifact of a young filmmaker honing his craft.

One of the more notable aspects of this story of two young hitchhikers amblin' along a desert highway is that it is completely dialogue-free, a decision that demonstrated a lot of foresight by a 22-year old. Too often, these bare-bones early films are sabotaged by the necessity of using unprofessional actors to bring to life a novice script. These shorts are essentially video business cards to try to get feature work. The last thing a struggling director needs is to have more attention on the bad acting than on his chops behind the lens.What we have here is simply a budding director having fun with his camera and developing his artistic eye (which apparently worked--he's made a couple of movies since then).

Last note: while it drags a bit in the middle, the ending was a bit of a surprise considering some of the weak finishes of his multi-million dollar epics.

And because we here at SMC love you, here it is (courtesy of JoBlo.com):