Ask 411 Movies for 01.30.12: Excessively Deafening and Considerably Near!

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 01.30.2012

Will the comic book movie craze reach new heights in 2012 with The Dark Knight Rises? What are the worst Best Picture Oscar nominees? What will be the next movies re-released in theaters? All this and more covered this week Ask 411 Movies!

YouTube Video of the Week
This week, learn how to use bacon fat to make popcorn with iron chef Michael Symon. As I recently read on the Facebook page of a friend, bacon is the auto tune of food.



Leonard's Favorite Episode of Cheers
Every week I highlight my favorite episode of a popular television series. This week "What is…Cliff Clavin?" from Cheers. Cocky know it all Cliff Clavin gets on a special Boston set episode of Jeopardy!. After getting his ‘dream board,' as Norm calls it, Cliff is in a big lead, but blows it on the final question. Not knowing the three names posted, he answers "What are three people who have never been in my kitchen," which is technically correct but wrong. Watching Cliff squirm and try to get out of it is very funny. In the subplot, Sam's little black book is missing and someone is calling all the women and telling them to meet Sam at a skating rink in a black leather mini-skirt and French cut panties. Rebecca is used to set a trap for the guy. "Three People Who Have Never Been in My Kitchen" was actually used as a Jeopardy! category and Cliff's board was used for a tournament of champions game in 2005.



Mystery Actor/Actress of the Week
Every week I'll give clues to a mystery actor or actress. If you think you know who it is, post in the comments. You win nothing but a tip of the top hat from me, but isn't that enough?

Last week: I played the wife of last week's mystery actor, Bob Crane, in a movie that also featured Ask 411 Movies' first ever mystery actor. To tie in with this week's favorite episode of a television show, I'm also one of five actors to appear in the original and revival series of The Outer Limits. Another one of those actors appeared in the pilot episode of a series featuring my first husband, who was replaced in a second pilot. Another one of those actors was a guest villain on another popular 1960s program, which I was a villain on as well. My daughter with my second husband is a journalist for Fox News, which might classify her as playing a villain to some too. Who am I?

The answer is Barbara Rush. Rush played Crane's wife in Superdad with Kurt Russell as their daughter's boyfriend. The five people to be in both versions of The Outer Limits are Leonard Nimoy, David McCallum, Cliff Robertson, Peter Beck and Rush. Nimoy played Spock on Star Trek. Jeffrey Hunter, Rush's first husband, was Captain Pike in the first rejected pilot of the show. Robertson played Shame on Batman with Rush once guesting as Nora Clavicle. Rush's daughter with her second husband, Warren Cowan, is Fox News journalist Claudia Cowan. Information from IMDB.



This week: Last week's mystery actress, Barbara Rush, is mentioned in one of my movies as my character brags about doing her hair. That character was as promiscuous on screen as I was rumored to be in real life, having been linked to many celebrities over the years. However, I've finally settled down and have four children with my Oscar nominated wife. I have one honorary Oscar and one competitive Oscar, but not for acting. It runs in the family as my sister is an Oscar winner too. We went to the same high school as another Oscar winner. I'm the godfather of another Oscar nominated actress' son and actually turned down a role in The Godfather. Who am I?

British character actor Ian Abercrombie died of undisclosed causes Thursday, Jan. 26, in Hollywood. He was 77. Abercrombie is known to television fans as Elaine's boss, Mr. Pitt, on Seinfeld and Professor Crumbs on Wizards of Waverly Place. He's also done animated voice over work, voicing Emperor Palpatine on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and he had completed before his death work on the upcoming Green Lantern animated series for the Cartoon Network. His movie appearances include Von Ryan's Express, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Army of Darkness, The Molly Maguires, Puppet Master III, Young Frankenstein and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Q: You are a God. I forgot all about "Quick Change" it was a movie I would watch religiously on VHS.
Hope it's on DVD.
-Ant-Lox

A: Last week for filler I went over movies with quick in the title. Mike also asked about the movie's Blu-Ray availability in last week's comments. It is out on DVD, but not Blu-Ray. A bare bones edition was put out in 2006 and it can be found for about $6 on Amazon. It's also available on Amazon Instant Video for $2.99.



Q: No Quicksilver, starring Kevin Bacon? Ah, who cares. No one remembers that one.
-Earl

A: It didn't come up on my IMDB random title search, probably because Quicksilver is one word. I remember it, because the good Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon connections are Paul Rodriguez, Louie Anderson and Laurence Fishburne. Bacon plays a former stock-market whiz kid reduced to being a bike messenger after some bad decisions and losing his nerve. He falls for another bicyclist played by Jamie Gertz and partners with budding entrepreneur Rodriguez to hopefully get his business mojo back.



Q: Here's a question that's rather timely...

The recent Oscar nominees for best picture include the movie "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". I know that this movie originally had some early "Oscar buzz", but now that its been released it hasn't gotten very good critical reviews. (It's sitting at 48% at Rotten Tomatoes right now.)

Given its rather unfavorable reviews, why do you think it ended up getting nominated anyways? (You would figure that, while professional movie critics don't select the nominees, they'd at least be a good indicator of what movies were done well.)

And can you think of other movies in the past which were nominated for best picture even though the majority of movie critics disliked the picture?
Cheers.
-Allan

A: In my opinion Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was positioned as Oscar bait in marketing and the Academy voters took the bait. Mainly it features several Academy favorites in three time nominated director Stephen Daldry, two-time best actor winner Tom Hanks, recent best actress winner Sandra Bullock and previous best actor nominee Max Von Sydow, who is nominated this year for best supporting actor. I would pick Sydow to win, but Christopher Plummer is another geezer they owe and he took the Golden Globe. Actors make up the largest block of voters and, if nothing else, the film is an actor's movie and that's probably where its strength lied.



The Greatest Show on Earth from 1952 is often considered by critics to be the weakest best picture winner ever. While it was the highest grossing film of the year, it was panned by critics. High Noon and The Quiet Man were considered the frontrunners. What the overblown circus set melodrama had going for it was being the comeback picture for famed silent movie director Cecil B. DeMille. The old fogies in the Academy that hadn't set foot in a theater since the silent era voted for DeMille while the two clearly better pictures are considered to have split the vote between them.



Airport in 1970 was another movie that was very high grossing, but was panned by critics. Analysts today usually call it a must watch only for its camp value and as being the flick that was the harbinger of the 1970s disaster movie craze. It's probably the worst film to get the most nominations with 10. Helen Hayes won for best supporting actress. As I mentioned above, the actor's branch is the biggest of the academy and Airport had a huge top name cast while also being sort of a throw back in style to the type of all-star cast melodramas that were popular in the 1930s.



Q: It seems like every several years, a new movie "craze" comes along. (gross-out comedies, vampires, political, etc.)

1. What would you consider the first craze?

2. Which craze do you think will be next?
-The Great Capt. Smooth

A: Hollywood will always capitalize on what is big in pop culture or what has worked in other movies. ‘Crazes' are nothing new. I mention the disaster movie craze of the 1970s in the answer above. Below in talking about Fast Times at Ridgemont High, I talk about how it kicked off the teen sex comedy craze in the 1980s. Every sci-fi movie released after 1977 was a rip-off of Star Wars. Even going back to the silent era, Birth of a Nation led to a trend of longer historical dramas and the success of physical comedians like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin brought a slew of similar knockoffs featuring names you wouldn't recognize.

As for what's next, I'm going to go with adaptations of dark, violent novels. Two of the biggest buzzed about movies in the past year were The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo and forthcoming The Hunger Games. The success of last year's Bridesmaids could bring more female oriented gross out comedies. A dark horse I'll give you are real stories of animals in trouble. Dolphin Tale did surprisingly great last year and you could even put We Bought a Zoo in the category. Big Miracle about whales trapped in ice is coming in February.



The comic book genre could also be hitting it's high watermark this year with the very high profile The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spiderman set for release.



Q: Hi Leonard,

With the current trend of re-releasing films, what specific movies do you think are the best candidates? What movies are just a different experience on the big screen than at home?
-Andrew B

A: As I said above, nothing is new in Hollywood. Some might find it hard to believe, but there was a time before computers, DVD players, VCRs and even television. If you didn't a see a movie in the theaters, you didn't see it. Studios would re-release its most popular flicks every few years. You're not spending anymore money making it and you're bringing in new money from people who want to see it again or didn't see it the first time, but have heard about it. Gone with the Wind and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves are two movies that are still among the highest grossing of all time, even if you don't adjust for inflation, because they were re-released so many times over the years. The practice died off heading into the 1970s as studios began selling airing rights to past pictures to television stations, especially various local affiliates and just starting up cable channels like HBO that needed to fill hours.



The current re-release craze (hey, it's another craze) is centered around putting old movies out in 3D. The Lion King did big box office back in the fall, but Beauty and the Beast out currently is doing less so. Slated for release this year in 3D are Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace and Titanic. So basically, think what movies might look good put out in 3D for what we might be seeing next. From Disney I'll go with Aladdin and from the field I'll say The Matrix.



Last week we looked at movies with quick in the title, this week for filler we go with fast.

Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937): This is the first of eight movies starring Peter Lorre as the title character, an Asian detective. On a cruise ship from San Francisco to Shanghai, Moto recognizes his steward as a man wanted for murder. Moto catches him trying to steal a letter from the stateroom of Bob Hitchings (Thomas Beck), son of a shipping magnet. On the boat, Hitchings falls in love with Gloria (Virginia Field) who is tight lipped about her past. Moto must find the connection between Gloria, the letter and the murderer.



The Fast and the Furious (1955): Frank Webster (John Ireland) is framed for murder and breaks out of jail to clear his name. He takes Connie (Dorothy Malone) hostage and uses her car to enter a road race in order to flee to Mexico. You may recognize the title from another movie to appear later on the list. The makers of 2001's The Fast and the Furious bought the name rights from this movie to avoid any legal hassle, even though the story has no connection. This was the first flick from American Releasing Corporation, later American International Pictures.



Fast Company (1979): This is sort of an anomaly on horror and thriller director David Cronenberg's filmography. Lonnie "Lucky Man" Johnson (William Smith) is a rising racecar driver who must deal with an unscrupulous agent (John Saxon). This was the last movie featuring Claudia Jennings, who oddly died in a car crash the following year. On a funnier note, the Finnish video release has Jodie Foster listed in the cast, but it's actually Judy Foster.



Fast Break (1979): David Greene (Gabe Kaplan) is a former junior high school basketball coach in New York who dreams of coaching on the college level. He gets a chance at terrible Cadwallader University in Nevada. Greene brings some recruits with him such as his buddy Hustler (NBA star Bernard King), Preacher (Michael Warren) who's on the run after knocking up the underage daughter of a cult leader, D.C. (Harold Sylvester) who gave up basketball glory to illegally run numbers and Swish (Mavis Washington), a girl they pass off as a dude. The fifth starter is Sam "Bull" Newton (Reb Brown) a muscle bound lunk head who actually goes to the college. No trailer, but feel the funk from the soundtrack.



Fast-Walking (1982): The movie was originally released as The Joint and is based on the novel The Rap. The title was changed to match that of James Woods' character, a corrupt prison guard caught between two plots for money. On one hand he can help spring a black activist (Robert Hooks) from the prison, but on the other he can serve in a plot to kill him. Meanwhile, he's having an affair with his cousin's wife (Kay Lenz). The cousin (Tim McIntire) is the inmate plotting to the kill the activist. Kim Basinger turned down the female lead.



Fast Food (1989): Auggie (Brandon Clark) turns his cousin's (Tracey Griffith) garage into a burger joint. A very special secret sauce has the sexual effects of Spanish Fly and the restaurant becomes very popular. This draws the ire of fast food king Wrangler Bob (Jim Varney), who wants to take over the joint and steal the sauce formula. The movie also features Blake Clark, who took over the voice duties of Slinky Dog in Toy Story 3 from the deceased Varney.



Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982): The movie was one of the major ones that started the 1980s sex comedy boom and helped launch the careers of Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold and Phoebe Cates, who had that memorable bikini scene. Cage was tested for Brad, but it went to Reinhold because they thought Cage played it too dark and he was 17, which meant he couldn't work as many hours as those over 18. Cage did have a bit part. Tom Hanks was also considered for Brad. Fred Gwynne was going to play teacher Mr. Hand, but objected to the sexual nature of the movie. Ray Walston played the part. Even stranger, David Lynch was going to direct. He said he liked the script, but it wasn't his thing and Amy Heckerling stepped in. Jodie Foster turned down playing Stacy, because she was at college. Brooke Shields, Ellen Barkin and Diane Lane were also up for the part. Melanie Griffith, Justine Bateman and Tatum O'Neal were up for Linda.



The Fast and the Furious (2001): We'll just cover the first movie as there are four sequels with another one planned. Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is an undercover cop who infiltrates a street racing circle thought to be stealing expensive electronic equipment. The leader is Dominic (Vin Diesel) and O'Conner falls for his sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster). Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Diesel's love interest, didn't have driver's licenses or even learner's permits at the time of filming. Mark Wahlberg, Eminem and Christian Bale were all up for Brian. Eliza Dushku, Natalie Portman, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kirsten Dunst, Bijou Phillips and Jessica Biel were up for Mia.



Fast Sofa (2001): Rick (Jake Busey) is a dope fiend obsessed with porn star Ginger (Jennifer Tilly) to the chagrin of his girlfriend Tamara (Natasha Lyonne). He sets out on a road trip to Ginger's home in Beverly Hills and picks up a weirdo along the way (Crispin Glover, who's good at that kind of part). Rose McGowan was originally to play Tamara.



Faster (2010): Dwayne ‘the Rock' Johnson plays an unnamed man who seeks revenge on those who killed his brother and left him for dead. Billy Bob Thornton plays the drug addled detective on is trail. Salma Hayek dropped out of the movie a week before filming because of a scheduling conflict. Carla Gugino replaced her as Thornton's partner. Director George Tillman Jr. didn't have any action film experience, but based the movie after 1970s style B-movie actioners. For me it was good to see The Rock back in a straight up, badass action movie after doing so many family films and comedies.



Don't die.
"People on ‘ludes should not drive."