by Adam Riske and Patrick Bromley
Double Feature 1:
Adam: #1: American Graffiti (1973)
Patrick: #2: Dazed and Confused (1993)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Can’t Hardly Wait, The Outsiders
Patrick: Theme: Castmakers
Patrick: I like these movies in which the cast is totally stacked with up-and-comers, but no one quite knows it yet except maybe a casting agent who is very, very good at his or her job. I haven’t seen American Graffiti in a number of years so I’m excited to revisit it at our theater. It’s a movie I’ve always respected more than actually liked, but I get smarter (in some ways) as I get older and I learn to see things in older movies that maybe I didn’t see the first time or two. Dazed and Confused is a movie I kind of rejected early on because I thought I was rejecting the fan base, but it gets better every time I see it. Maybe the best hangout movie ever?
Adam: This is an amazing, perfect double feature with two movies I love. On my last viewing of American Graffiti, I realized it’s one of my favorite movies (probably top 25 or somewhere in that range). I have a real soft spot for movies set in the early '60s like that and Dogfight. Plus, the wall-to-wall soundtrack omg. Dazed and Confused is a great pairing with it since they’re both up all night hangout movies. I understand what you’re saying about rejecting the fan base initially for Dazed and Confused. I always loved the movie but also didn’t think I was hip enough for it until I finally saw the movie in my late teens. It came out when I was in middle school and I remember my first awareness of it was seeing the trailer before Rookie of the Year, oddly enough. The joke about Martha Washington having a big bowl waiting for George went way over my head. I thought they were talking about soup or chili or something. Fun fact: When I worked at Blockbuster, our copy of Dazed and Confused was never in because it was repeatedly stolen.
Patrick: Same for my Blockbuster!! It must have been a national phenomenon.
Double Feature 2:
Patrick: #1: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Adam: #2: The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Serenity, Veronica Mars, Downton Abbey
Adam: Theme: I’m Lost Because I Didn’t Watch the TV Show
Adam: I’ve seen Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and admire it at arm’s length. I know enough about the show through osmosis and am familiar enough with David Lynch’s vibe to “get it” kinda? I don’t know. I’m sure I’m still missing a lot. I thought this would be a fun theme because I remember my friends back in 1998 wanting to see The X-Files movie on opening night but I suggested we see The Truman Show a second time because I hadn’t seen any episodes of The X-Files. That was rude of me. Besides, it was opening night of Mulan so we should’ve gone to that. Is The X-Files: Fight the Future a movie a novice could get anything out of? I’ve always wanted to see it but not enough to watch the television show. P.S. I don’t like the subtitle Fight the Future. It reminds me of the moment in Saturday Night Fever where Travolta says “Fuck the Future” and his boss is all “No, Tony, the future fucks you.”
Patrick: The girl I was dating in high school took me to Fire Walk With Me opening night and I had never seen the show and felt completely lost. Now I’ve seen the show multiple times but that’s not why I’ve grown to love FWWM; I think that has more to do with seeing more David Lynch and vibing with it in a way I couldn’t have as a kid. X-Files: Fight the Future is a different thing because the show is more of a blind spot for me, despite always wanting to watch it and working through the first season more than once. I skipped it in theaters and watched it on video, where it did almost nothing for me. I’ve seen it a couple of times since and it hasn’t really grown much for me. Maybe this will be the magic viewing! I’d love to use it as an excuse to marathon the series ahead of time but I’m enough of a realist to know that won’t happen. Also Fight the Future is kind of a dumb name. I always just called it The X-Files Movie, which got harder when they made a second X-Files Movie with the equally bad subtitle of I Want to Believe. I don’t hate that movie but I know I’m supposed to.
Double Feature 3:
Patrick: #2: Indecent Proposal (1993)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Friends with Benefits, The Piano, Fired Up!, Unfaithful
Patrick: Theme: Gluck and a Cuck
Patrick: I really don’t like Indecent Proposal, but I couldn’t resist this theme and thought of all the cuck movies I programmed, this one felt right because Robert Redford passed and this seemed respectful. Lol. I like some Will Gluck movies! Maybe more so early on before he became the only filmmaker allowed to make romantic comedies. I don’t know how to feel about One Night Only. I get that the premise is a hard sell in a trailer but they’re not even trying to sell it as a comedy. I’ll totally see it for the Barbaro of it all but I might have a Callum Turner allergy. Stop trying to insist he’s a thing, movies. Do you have a favorite Gluck? Mine’s probably Easy A or Fired Up!. Eric Christian Olson just sinks three pointers in that one.
Adam: This is such a Cinemarink double feature/theme. I love it. I don’t like Indecent Proposal either, but we’ve joked so much about cucking that I have affection now for…cucking??! What’s wrong with me? It’s gotten to the point where when I saw the Super Troopers 3 trailer and there was a “pull up a cuck chair” joke I was ready to text you. You know what’s crazy? I have never seen Easy A despite Emma Stone being one of my favorite actors working today. Yeah, that One Night Only trailer stinks. I too like Barbaro, but she doesn’t strike me as funny so I dunno I hope for the best. I haven’t seen some essential Glucks (like Fired Up!) so for now my favorite is Friends with Benefits, which I remember enjoying the one time I saw it. I liked it better than No Strings Attached.
Double Feature 4:
Patrick: #1: It’s Complicated (2009)
Adam: #2: Defending Your Life (1991)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: She-Devil, Postcards from the Edge, Death Becomes Her
Adam: Theme: Meryl Streep Comedies
Adam: Not really creative of a theme but it’s a good pairing and would play well with these two movies back-to-back. I haven’t seen It’s Complicated since the mail physical media Netflix days but would like to revisit it (just not now…in 2029…you understand why). I also haven’t seen Defending Your Life in a long time and it’s beloved so I’m sure people would leave the Cinemarink happy with this double feature. My most lasting memory of Defending Your Life is not to take your eyes off the road to insert a new CD.
Patrick: This might be the best double of the month so far. It’s Complicated is more comforting than good in a Nancy Meyers way, but Defending Your Life is pretty great and Meryl Streep is kind of magical in it. I like her in comedies more than in dramas because I always feel like I’m supposed to be knocked out by everything she does but she’s so loose and likable in her comedies that I remember she doesn’t take herself too seriously. I listened to the Meryl Streep draft on The Big Picture and they left out her big Bonnie & Clyde musical number in Stuck On You, a movie I’m not crazy about but during which I think I first realized that Meryl Streep seems like a great sport and has a sense of humor about herself. It should have been when I saw The River Wild in the ‘90s but I only saw that one a year or two ago.
Double Feature 5:
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Hot to Trot, Camp Candy “The Forest’s Prime Evil” episode
Patrick: Theme: Voiced by John Candy
Patrick: I was stuck here because I’ve never seen Rescuers Down Under, but I know John Candy voices a bird or some shit? I liked the idea of pairing a Disney cartoon with a more “adult” animated movie like Heavy Metal. Plus, it’s an excuse to see Heavy Metal on the big screen again. John Candy’s line deliveries as Den always crack me up. Plus, an episode of Camp Candy! I’m sure that shit will play.
Adam: Candy does play a bird or some shit in RDU! I really like The Rescuers Down Under. I rewatched it for a ‘90s Kid Movie Club not too long ago and it held up for me. I have a lot of nostalgia for it because I remember it was a movie my Mom took me to and I was really excited it was preceded with The Prince and the Pauper as a short and an intermission in between, which was a novel concept to me as a kid. I love this theme as a big John Candy fan. I should thank you and Smash Cut for getting me to finally watch Heavy Metal, which I really liked and bought on Blu-ray right afterwards. This night rules. I’m so excited to watch an episode of Camp Candy on the big screen. That’s a “Pancake Show,” i.e. a show you watch while eating a short stack when you’re a short stack. By short stack I mean when you were a kid -- or Danny DeVito in The Rainmaker. Great pancake scene. You should do a 24-hour marathon article on movies with pancake scenes.
Double Feature 6:
Patrick: #1: Colors (1988)
Adam: #2: Hamburger Hill (1987)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Moving Violations, The Meteor Man, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead
Adam: Theme: Pre-Fame Don Cheadle
Adam: I was surprised to see Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead in Cheadle’s filmography. Do you remember him in that movie? #BoatDrinks. Anyways, I thought it would be fun to highlight his early career here before his breakout in 1995’s Devil in a Blue Dress. I haven’t seen either Colors or Hamburger Hill but have always meant to get around to them so this would be a good excuse to finally catch both, especially with the recent passing of Robert Duvall. Have you seen either of them? Any good? I vaguely remember hearing Sean Penn was kinda nuts on the set of Colors. (Checks Internet) Yes, yes he was.
Patrick: Sean Penn? Nuts? An asshole? Not MY Sean Penn. I literally rewatched Things to Do In Denver a few months ago – don’t ask my why, it’s Cherry 7-Up – and still have no memory of Don Cheadle being in it. That’s how big an impression both he and that movie made on me. I remember liking Hamburger Hill as a grungy Vietnam movie (a genre I like more than I should). Steven Weber is in it and he just got added to Flashback! You think some real Hill heads are gonna come out? I’m literally watching Colors for the first time as I’m typing this. It’s a movie I’ve wanted to see since it came out in 1988 and just haven’t. I like the Ice-T theme song, though. Think he’ll come perform it live? Should we have Cheadle do it?
Double Feature 7:
Patrick: #2: Super 8 (2011)
Patrick: Theme: When Filmmaking Meets Aliens
Patrick: I was recently showing Super 8 to a class and realized just how much it has in common with Jordan Peele’s Nope, which I started out by showing this semester. Both are movies about filmmaking that get interrupted by the arrival of an extraterrestrial monster. Nope treats it more as adult horror, while
Adam: I really like this double. The theme’s clever. You’re being too critical of yourself. Plus, I get to revisit Nope, which I suspect I’d like more on a second viewing and Super 8, which is a movie I really like/almost love but haven’t seen in many years. You can’t go wrong with a night of movies featuring Keke Palmer and Elle Fanning. Production Value!
Double Feature 8:
Patrick: #1: Heat (1995)
Adam: #2: Chill Factor (1999)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: Batman (1989), The Hot Spot, Poison Ivy, Diamonds, Ice Age, The Cooler
Adam: Theme: Mr. Freeze’s Pros and Cons
Adam: This theme is just me being dumb, but I couldn’t resist. Also, following up Heat with Chill Factor seems funny to me.
Patrick: OMG I love it. There can be no better way to follow up Heat. The trailer block alone has me excited for this one.
Double Feature 9:
Patrick: #2: Barbie (2023)
Patrick: Trailers/Shorts: Greenberg, Mistress America, Jay Kelly
Patrick: Theme: Gerwig/Baumbach
Patrick: I thought it might be fun to do a night devoted to Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach with two movies written by the pair but one directed by each of them. The two movies are different enough that we’ll get totally unique experiences despite being from the same creative team. I’m also hoping to have a magic viewing of Barbie because I've had them for both Lady Bird and Frances Ha in the last year.
Adam: I’m with you on needing the magic viewing on Barbie. I liked it enough when I saw it during my own personal Barbenheimer Night, but I didn’t get into it as much as most people did. This is a great opportunity to give it another shot. I was really annoyed by Frances Ha the first time I saw it and then revisited it years later and absolutely loved it. It might be the biggest turnaround for me of a new movie I watched during my time at F This Movie! I like that lead character so much. She’s messy but in the best possible way and I love that she goes on vacation to Paris just to cave and go see Puss in Boots. I miss Gerwig acting. The directing thing is cool but she’s such a unique personality that I wish she still had star vehicles.
Double Feature 10:
Patrick: #1: Swordfish (2001)
Adam: #2: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Adam: Trailers/Shorts: The Mummy Returns, Planet of the Apes, Ghosts of Mars
Adam: Theme: Summer 2001 Action Movies That Suck
Adam: I have enough nostalgia for Summer 2001 (a summer movie season that seemed to love being a summer movie season) that I even kinda have a soft spot for the bad movies. Swordfish bums me out because it’s one of too many examples of movies where John Travolta overestimates how cool he is. He’s certainly cool up to a time, but 2001 was not one of those years. I remember being bored out of my mind during Lara Croft: Tomb Raider but I would like to revisit it now that I know who Daniel Craig is, which I didn’t in 2001.
Patrick: I have never hated Swordfish but I probably should, right? Like why do I have a soft spot for that movie? I love that you call out Summer 2001 because I have the same affection for even the bad movies, though I have to admit that affection doesn’t quite extend to Tomb Raider. Maybe it’s because I never played the game. I rewatched it maybe a year ago and still found it to be pretty boring. Should I do a Summer 2001 24 Hours of Movies? It would just be an excuse to rewatch a bunch of stuff.
Adam: Yes, I want to read that.
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