Ask 411 Movies for 7.28.08: The Column that Avoids the Noid

Posted by Leonard Hayhurst on 07.28.2008

The Noid, American Beauty, Christopher Walken on SNL, Highlander 2: Renegade Edition and why comic book movies are popular

Estelle Getty, 84, passed away on July 20 after suffering from advanced dementia. She is best remembered as Sophia on "The Golden Girls." She also appeared in Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, Mask, Mannequin, Stuart Little, Deadly Force and Tootsie.



As always you can check out my latest reviews on my blog at www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

For more celebrities doing celebrities Albert Brooks in an appearance on "the Tonight Show" in 1983 shows how anyone can impersonate their favorite stars with some household items.



Q: On SNL this week (might have been a repeat) Walken was hosting and as part of the monologue he answered questions from the audience. From "what is your favorite color?" to preference to acting in films or live. The one question was exactly the preferred superpower "Flight or Invisibility?".

The answer he gave was "Both", to be a great invisible bird and fly into sliding glass doors and have people hear the crash (or whump) and come out looking for a bird and not seeing him because he was invisible.

The delivery was so deadpan that it was quite funny.

Addendum to my Walken on SNL comment

It's summer, of course, it was a repeat just not sure of the original airdate
-CK

A: I could see that being Walken's serious answer. We were talking about Walken in last week's column. The original airdate was April 5, 2008. You can read the transcript of the bit here.

Q: To be fair, I Am Legend and The Omega Man aren't remakes on The Last Man On Earth, but rather all three are based on the same novel: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson. It would be like saying the made-for-TV movie Trucks is a remake of Maximum Overdrive, when both are based on a Stephen King short story.
-Andrew

A: I wouldn't call that being fair, but more nitpicking. The movies might not be direct remakes of each other, but they do derive from the same source material in the novel I Am Legend and are therefore linked by that and so share similar elements of plot, character and themes in common. So technically I might have been incorrect. I'm just nitpicking back. Thanks for the correction.

Q: I remember Domino's Pizza Noid having a cartoon, but no one else does. Am I nuts?
-Dave

A: Yeah, you're nuts. The Noid was part of an advertising campaign for Domino's Pizza in the eighties. He was a little guy in a red suit that would try to destroy a Domino's pizza before it could be delivered. The slogan was "avoid the Noid." The character appeared in several animated spots by Will Vinton Studios and was created by Group 243 advertising. The character did star in two video games, one for the computer and the other for Nintendo named "Yo, Noid."

In an interesting aside, a man named Kenneth Lamar Noid in 1989 took a Domino's Pizza store hostage in Georgia, because he thought the ads were a personal attack on him. He made two employees make him a pizza and he demanded $100,000, a getaway car and a copy of the book "The Widow's Son." He surrendered to police after five hours and was given mental help.



And just for fun I'll throw in a video of Mac Tonight.



Q: I'd be interested in knowing what your take was on American Beauty.
-The Dude



A: I liked American Beauty when it came out, but I don't think it has aged well. It's a movie that hit the right time and place to become popular and well received. Hitting in 1999, it might be considered the high watermark of "indy-ish" films infiltrating the mainstream that started earlier in the decade. Kevin Spacey's performance still holds up as Lester comes off as a very real person, warts and all. He has a very traceable character arc with redemption that is sadly never fully realized due to his murder. I just think society has moved passed that ‘suburban life has an underbelly' idea and the themes of the film just don't resonate much today.

It might have been interesting to see how the movie would have turned out if Terry Gilliam as rumored was the director and Lester was played by Jeff Daniels, Tom Hanks or Chevy Chase as also considered.

Q: Leonard,

I hope to all things holy (except for Scientology - that be the Deveeeeeel's work!) you never run out of questions and have to close the column. The site just wouldn't be the same without this column.

Right, column filler. Er, questions, I mean.

I just re-watched Highlander 2: The Renegade Version, and no, it wasn't a form of self torture. While I don't think it is a shining moment in that particular series, it was a hell of a lot better than the theatrical version. And that brings me to:

1. Briefly, when Dr. Louise Marcus and her crew break into The Shield Corporation, one of the non-speaking techs swivels in his chair and heads towards the camera. The actor looks a lot like the guy who played the doctor on Babylon 5. Am I seeing things? He is only on screen the once, and only for about one second.
2. When General Katana makes himself a "partner" of TSC, he does so by rather grossly breaking the jaw and neck of some thug/board member who shoots him first. That actor looks like the guy who played young Jack Napier in 1989's Batman. Again, am I seeing things?
3. Either way, could you tell all of us kind readers about that/those man/men?
4. On the DVD, there is a featurette called, LOL, To Be or To Not Be A Sequel, or something like that. Whatever. It isn't, and that's my opinion. In the featurette the producers and the director make the comment that the Quickening was not what we think of it now. It was supposed to be something else, and not the transfering of power from a dead Immortal to a live one. Any ideas what they think the Quickening is? They do admit, however, that's what it means now.
5. The producers even say, during their commentary track, that the European edit of the film has a different ending, where MacLeod transforms into some kind of light beam, and goes back to the planet Zeist, "but it will never see the light of day." They are wrong; I have a friend who has a VHS version, all perfectly legal, of that cut of the film, and it is different enough to be considered yet a THIRD version of this movie. What's more, IMDB says there were deleted (presumably filmed) scenes where Katana watches the fight between the Kurgan and Macleod, sees the Kurgan die, and then decides to send the two wacked out Immortals to try to kill Macleod.

And as a free tip, even to Highlander fans, don't see Highlander: The Source. Watch Highlander: Search for Vengeance instead. Trust me.

Paul in Canada.

A: I never watched "Babylon 5," but imdb lists Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin. He was a native of Columbus, Ohio, and died in 2004 of an aortic tear at the age of 44. He originally wanted to study medicine, oddly enough, but attended the USC School of Theater and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He taught acting classes from time to time. Biggs often appeared at sci-fi and horror conventions, using the money he made there to fund a school for the deaf in Orange County. He was deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other since a childhood. He made numerous TV guest appearances over the years and was appearing on the series "Strong Medicine" regularly at the time of his death.



The young Jack Napier in the first Batman was played by Hugo Blick. Blick is a native of the United Kingdom and is more known as a writer, director and producer having worked on such shows as "Sensitive Skin," "Marion and Geoff," "Up in Town" and "Operation Good Guys."



Neither man has Highlander 2 on their filmography and the parts you mention are not on the cast list, because they are non-speaking parts and non-speaking parts are not obligated to be credited by screen actor guild rules.



From watching the second film and featurette, I believe the Quickening is what Ramirez was talking about in harnessing all the energy of a Highlanders when he destroyed the giant fan at the Max.

According to imdb there are many different versions of the movie, most due to cuts and changes made for television. I would say you need to look at your friend's video version and see the company details. It is possible a professional looking bootleg was put out or some European firm distributed this version and a few copies found it's way to the U.S. Apparently a certain take of this version has been used for television prints and is shown on the Special Edition DVD.

In the original movie, much of the first film premise was jettisoned to have the Highlanders as immortals from the planet Zeist. This was done by the insurance company who took control of production to make a film they thought would earn money after inflation in Argentina rose dramatically during filming. Director Russell Mulcahy wanted to take his name off the film in favor of an Alan Smithee credit, but due to contractual obligations he couldn't. Likewise, star Christopher Lambert was forced to finish the film because of contractual obligations. In 1995 Mulcahy re-cut the movie to the order he wanted, took out all the alien nonsense, and made it back to the Highlanders being from Earth's far distant past and exiled to more modern times. About 16 minutes of scenes were added in, many of which answered questions such as what happened to Brenda and where Ramirez first appeared upon his return. Following sequels and the television series ignore this movie entirely.

Q: I don't understand why comic book movies are so ridiculously popular. I mean it's not like that many people even read comic books. Personally I do read comics though I've pretty much grown out of the superhero genre, and really the only comics out right now that I truly enjoy are written by Robert Kirkman and even those I wouldn't want to see made into movies (maybe in a few years.) I mean I understand that it's "cool" to see characters that you like from print works appearing on screen what with the special effects that are available today but still who the fuck cares about iron man or any of that other bullshit.
-Pete Gas

A: I think a lot of it has to do with the marketing and hype. Your biggest comic book films, Iron Man, Spiderman and The Dark Knight, were sold to the public very well as not just comic book films, but big event movies. You had to see it or you were missing out. Hollywood is also big on projects that have certain name value. Even non-comic fans have heard of Batman and Spiderman. If only comic book fans went to see these movies, even multiple times as they tend to do, they wouldn't be as successful at the box office as they have been. This is just the latest well that Hollywood is dipping into and they'll continue to do so until it dries up.

I would encourage you to check out this week's edition of the movies podcast as we discuss the comic book film genre in detail and particularly The Dark Knight.

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Don't die.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. If you don't take it out and use it, it's going to rust."