DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema'

David Cornelius · 08-24-09, 01:25 AM

I read Paul Mavis's DVD review of 42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=38248 and...

Just when I thought your Wreckreation Nation review brought you to a new level of brilliant out of left field (make that right field) political commentary, along comes this one and its anti-PC rage. Terrific stuff - and the anti-Alamo sentiment is, in this age of pro-Alamo movie geekery, probably the ballsiest writing I've read in ages. Hat tip, my friend.

(Oh, and as for Godfrey Ho: the man puts Pink Floyd in all his movies. Nobody tell Roger Waters.)

Paul Mavis · 08-24-09, 07:12 PM

Thanks, Dave!

This whole P.C. garbage is so institutionalized now, I fear we'll never be rid of it.

As for "geek" philosophy -- at least how it pans out on the internet when it comes to movies -- it's just another way for people to be intellectually snobbish and exclusive. On the flip side, though, as not a liberal or a conservative or a libertarian or god forbid...a socialist, but a functioning royalist, I believe there should only be one arbiter of aesthetic taste and worth: me.

David Cornelius · 08-25-09, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Mavis

I believe there should only be one arbiter of aesthetic taste and worth: me.

Except I'm the only one that's always right.

Kurtie Dee · 08-25-09, 12:03 PM

You're both wrong.

David Cornelius · 08-25-09, 04:53 PM

I'm right and wrong? You just blew my mind.

Kurtie Dee · 08-25-09, 11:12 PM

Well, yeah, you're a movie critic, right?

LiquidSky · 08-28-09, 12:58 PM

I have this disc on pre-order and looking forward to slinging back some beers with my buddies and watching. Heck, I'll even get my big rubber rat (lovingly named "Margaret") out to make my apartment feel more "seedy"

Paul Mavis · 08-28-09, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidSky

I have this disc on pre-order and looking forward to slinging back some beers with my buddies and watching. Heck, I'll even get my big rubber rat (lovingly named "Margaret") out to make my apartment feel more "seedy"

The selection is one of the best I've seen. You will have a good time watching the disc.

Chas Speed · 09-03-09, 08:34 PM

I really thought the whole PC thing was dead until recently. I just bought a book about exploitation director Jack Hill (Switchblade Sisters, Foxy Brown) and was stunned to read the author go into lengthy detail about how un-PC Hill's flms are. Why someone would expect 70's exploitation films to be PC is beyond me. The Aintitcool website has an article about an Our Gang DVD set, but warns you shouldn't let your children watch because Buckweat eats chicken!

Paul Mavis · 09-03-09, 08:44 PM

It's utter insanity....

....and I'll be reviewing that Our Gang set!

John Sinnott · 09-03-09, 10:28 PM

Don't let your children watch Paul! They'll be ruined for life.

Chas Speed · 09-03-09, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Mavis

It's utter insanity....

....and I'll be reviewing that Our Gang set!

The Aintitcool article should have been about how awful the MGM Our Gang shorts were. The Hal Roach Our Gang shorts are classic, but when Hal Roach left and Our Gang went to MGM the results were terrible. The first thing they did was fire Porky (making his pal Buckweat kind of obsolete) and replaced him with Robert Blake, who cried every time he was on camera. The less said about Froggy the better. I just couldn't see how that poor kids handicap was funny. Anyway, I'll shut up and let you review it.

Paul Mavis · 09-03-09, 11:02 PM

By all means, vent.

I grew up watching all of them -- the Roach stuff and the MGM. Obviously the Roach stuff is classic, but I'm going to try and come to the MGM stuff with an open mind. If they work and they're funny....

Chas Speed · 09-04-09, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Mavis

By all means, vent.

I grew up watching all of them -- the Roach stuff and the MGM. Obviously the Roach stuff is classic, but I'm going to try and come to the MGM stuff with an open mind. If they work and they're funny....

It does seem like some of the very early MGM stuff wasn't too bad, so there might be a few good ones in there. It's funny though that the very last Hal Roach Our Gang short "Hide and Shriek" was one of my all time favorites. Alfalfa starts his own detective agency (with Porky and Buckweat) and somehow gets locked in to what has to be the coolest amusement park haunted house of all time. At the end of the short Alfalfa hangs out a sign at the front door of his detective agency that says "Out of Bizzness". They would go directly to MGM studio and would be out of the "comedy bizzness", but that's just my and Leonard Maltin's opinion.

Paul Mavis · 09-04-09, 05:46 AM

That's a great book by Maltin.

LiquidSky · 09-07-09, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chas Speed

Why someone would expect 70's exploitation films to be PC is beyond me.

Agreed! I'm a gay guy. The 1970s exploitation movies I take as is. They pull no punches for anyone: straight, gay, black, white, etc. I love 'em! My dad was really cool and took me to the drive-in when I was a kid to see all of these wonderful movies.

Chas Speed · 09-08-09, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidSky

Agreed! I'm a gay guy. The 1970s exploitation movies I take as is. They pull no punches for anyone: straight, gay, black, white, etc. I love 'em! My dad was really cool and took me to the drive-in when I was a kid to see all of these wonderful movies.

I think Jack Hill has a decent following in the gay community, since most in the gay community have a sense of humor and don't take it seriously. An example would be a scene from "Foxy Brown". Foxy has a friend she's protecting from the mob and the girl wanders in to a club around 2:00 P.M. on a weekday. It turns out it is a lesbian club that is PACKED (at that time of day) and the club has mob connections! Pam Grier comes to the rescue and gets in to a fight with the entire club. The guy who wrote the Jack Hill book complained that this scene is just not P.C., but anybody else would be laughing their heads off about how insane this scene is.

LiquidSky · 09-08-09, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chas Speed

I think Jack Hill has a decent following in the gay community, since most in the gay community have a sense of humor and don't take it seriously. An example would be a scene from "Foxy Brown". Foxy has a friend she's protecting from the mob and the girl wanders in to a club around 2:00 P.M. on a weekday. It turns out it is a lesbian club that is PACKED (at that time of day) and the club has mob connections! Pam Grier comes to the rescue and gets in to a fight with the entire club. The guy who wrote the Jack Hill book complained that this scene is just not P.C., but anybody else would be laughing their heads off about how insane this scene is.

I love that scene....and always wondered why the bar would be so crowded during the day!

seriousmill · 09-17-09, 12:45 AM

thanks i had no idea there was a 5th one

Mondo Kane · 09-23-09, 01:17 AM

I was a little let down with Volume 4 (My least favorite so far) but this sure as hell sounds like a winner. Got it on-order.

Neeb · 09-30-09, 04:16 AM

Love the review. Ordered it off Amazon- cause there's no way I'll see this at retail.

Couple of notes...

*Gene Roddenberry wrote Pretty Maids All in a Row. Yes. The Star Trek guy.
And if Paramount ever starts a DVD service like the WB Archive- this would have to be on it.

*A print of The Town That Dreaded Sundown was shown at the New Beverly in Los Angeles back in 2007

*I've actually seen Message From Space. It's terrible, but if someone released a good DVD, I'm sad to say I'd buy the f---ing thing.

Mondo Kane · 11-03-09, 08:24 PM

Just wondering if anybody has got this from DDD. I did get get a shipping notice over 2 weeks ago and...That should tell you how long it's been.

LiquidSky · 11-04-09, 11:21 AM

I received mine from Amazon on Monday. I'm saving it to show @ my upcoming movie nite next weekend.

RyoHazuki · 11-05-09, 01:32 PM

So you don't like the Alamo because it's too clean and the patrons aren't scary enough?

Paul Mavis · 11-05-09, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyoHazuki

So you don't like the Alamo because it's too clean and the patrons aren't scary enough?

Is that directed to me? Is that your summing up of my review?

08-24-09, 01:25 AM	#1
David Cornelius DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 412	DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' I read Paul Mavis's DVD review of 42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=38248 and... Just when I thought your Wreckreation Nation review brought you to a new level of brilliant out of left field (make that right field) political commentary, along comes this one and its anti-PC rage. Terrific stuff - and the anti-Alamo sentiment is, in this age of pro-Alamo movie geekery, probably the ballsiest writing I've read in ages. Hat tip, my friend. (Oh, and as for Godfrey Ho: the man puts Pink Floyd in all his movies. Nobody tell Roger Waters.)

08-24-09, 07:12 PM	#2
Paul Mavis DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 640	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' Thanks, Dave! This whole P.C. garbage is so institutionalized now, I fear we'll never be rid of it. As for "geek" philosophy -- at least how it pans out on the internet when it comes to movies -- it's just another way for people to be intellectually snobbish and exclusive. On the flip side, though, as not a liberal or a conservative or a libertarian or god forbid...a socialist, but a functioning royalist, I believe there should only be one arbiter of aesthetic taste and worth: me. __________________ Paul Mavis DVDTalk Staff Reviewer Online Film Critics Society Member “YOU LIE!” Congressman Joe Wilson

08-25-09, 12:03 PM	#4
Kurtie Dee DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 658	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' You're both wrong. __________________ 'some people have girlfriends... others are "Thread Stoppa's"' My Countdown Counting down to: someone reading my countdown. 4045 days 18 hours 6 minutes

08-25-09, 04:53 PM	#5
David Cornelius DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 412	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' I'm right and wrong? You just blew my mind.

08-25-09, 11:12 PM	#6
Kurtie Dee DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 658	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' Well, yeah, you're a movie critic, right? __________________ 'some people have girlfriends... others are "Thread Stoppa's"' My Countdown Counting down to: someone reading my countdown. 4045 days 18 hours 6 minutes

08-28-09, 12:58 PM	#7
LiquidSky DVD Talk Limited Edition Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: Pokey Dot Lounge, Nashville, TN Posts: 7,089	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' I have this disc on pre-order and looking forward to slinging back some beers with my buddies and watching. Heck, I'll even get my big rubber rat (lovingly named "Margaret") out to make my apartment feel more "seedy" __________________ "I am about to get in a knife fight over a corn dog."

09-03-09, 08:34 PM	#9
Chas Speed Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 102	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' I really thought the whole PC thing was dead until recently. I just bought a book about exploitation director Jack Hill (Switchblade Sisters, Foxy Brown) and was stunned to read the author go into lengthy detail about how un-PC Hill's flms are. Why someone would expect 70's exploitation films to be PC is beyond me. The Aintitcool website has an article about an Our Gang DVD set, but warns you shouldn't let your children watch because Buckweat eats chicken!

09-03-09, 08:44 PM	#10
Paul Mavis DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 640	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' It's utter insanity.... ....and I'll be reviewing that Our Gang set! __________________ Paul Mavis DVDTalk Staff Reviewer Online Film Critics Society Member “YOU LIE!” Congressman Joe Wilson

09-03-09, 10:28 PM	#11
John Sinnott Review Editor Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 3,943	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' Don't let your children watch Paul! They'll be ruined for life. __________________ John Sinnott, Review Editor Silent DVD - the latest information and reviews of silent classics Anime Talk - DVD Talk's biweekly look at anime My other Reviews

09-03-09, 11:02 PM	#13
Paul Mavis DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 640	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' By all means, vent. I grew up watching all of them -- the Roach stuff and the MGM. Obviously the Roach stuff is classic, but I'm going to try and come to the MGM stuff with an open mind. If they work and they're funny.... __________________ Paul Mavis DVDTalk Staff Reviewer Online Film Critics Society Member “YOU LIE!” Congressman Joe Wilson

09-04-09, 05:46 AM	#15
Paul Mavis DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 640	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' That's a great book by Maltin. __________________ Paul Mavis DVDTalk Staff Reviewer Online Film Critics Society Member “YOU LIE!” Congressman Joe Wilson

09-17-09, 12:45 AM	#19
seriousmill Cool New Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 37	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' thanks i had no idea there was a 5th one

09-23-09, 01:17 AM	#20
Mondo Kane DVD Talk Limited Edition Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 5,760	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' I was a little let down with Volume 4 (My least favorite so far) but this sure as hell sounds like a winner. Got it on-order. __________________ D-nado

09-30-09, 04:16 AM	#21
Neeb Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: SoCal Posts: 623	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' Love the review. Ordered it off Amazon- cause there's no way I'll see this at retail. Couple of notes... Gene Roddenberry wrote Pretty Maids All in a Row. Yes. The Star Trek guy. And if Paramount ever starts a DVD service like the WB Archive- this would have to be on it. A print of The Town That Dreaded Sundown was shown at the New Beverly in Los Angeles back in 2007 I've actually seen Message From Space*. It's terrible, but if someone released a good DVD, I'm sad to say I'd buy the f---ing thing.

11-03-09, 08:24 PM	#22
Mondo Kane DVD Talk Limited Edition Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 5,760	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' Just wondering if anybody has got this from DDD. I did get get a shipping notice over 2 weeks ago and...That should tell you how long it's been. __________________ D-nado

11-04-09, 11:21 AM	#23
LiquidSky DVD Talk Limited Edition Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: Pokey Dot Lounge, Nashville, TN Posts: 7,089	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' I received mine from Amazon on Monday. I'm saving it to show @ my upcoming movie nite next weekend. __________________ "I am about to get in a knife fight over a corn dog."

11-05-09, 01:32 PM	#24
RyoHazuki DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Phoenix Posts: 7,795	Re: DVD Talk review of '42nd Street Forever Volume 5: Alamo Drafthouse Cinema' So you don't like the Alamo because it's too clean and the patrons aren't scary enough? __________________ When in Rome, go back home and get real dome from a well known crack gnome. Xbox Live: CookinBooks