FSU Student Life Cinema

In honor of the SLC playing “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” next week from November 8th-10th, I’ve written up a special “MOVIE FACTS THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW” dealing with HARRY POTTER!

“The Harry Potter Series” (2001-2011)

Throughout the course of 10 years, the Harry Potter film series has spanned 7 books, 8 films and at $7,704,732,755, is the highest grossing film series of all time.  Through the ten years, numerous directors have had the honor of contributing their own film making style.  Though author J.K. Rowling wanted director Terry Gilliam to direct the first film, Christopher Columbus was hired and directed the 1st two films.  Though Columbus was supposed to actually direct all the adaptations, by the end of the second film, Columbus felt he was “burnt out”.  Due to this, Alfonso Cuarón was hired to direct the 3rd film.  Cuarón was worried about directing the third film because he had actually never seen the previous films or read the books but after actually reading the book, signed on.  Because production of the fourth installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, had to be initiated before the worldwide release of the third film, director Mike Newell was selected to be the director of the 4th film.  It was actually during production of the 4th film that director David Yates was hired to direct the 5th adaptation and would end up being the only other director besides Columbus to direct more than one Potter film, directing the final three films in the series.

Additionally, each of the directors (not including Columbus) had a cameo within their respective films: Alfonso Cuarón appears in The Three Broomsticks in Prisoner of Azkaban; Mike Newell is heard briefly as the radio presenter in Frank Bryce’s house in Goblet of Fire; and David Yates features as a wizard within a moving portrait in Order of the Phoenix.  It should be included though that Columbus’ daughter portrayed Hufflepuff student Susan Bones in non-speaking roles in the first two films.

-Raymond Calderon

“The Shawshank Redemption” (1994)

In the 1994 film “The Shawshank Redemption”, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman were not the first actors contacted for the roles of Andy Dufrescne and Red respectively.  For Andy, Tom Hanks, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen were all considered.  Though Tom Hanks was actually offered the role, he couldn’t accept the role due to his involvement in another film released in 1994 called “Forest Gump”.  Kevin Costner also was offered the rule but had to turn it down due to his involvement in “Waterworld”.  As for Red, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford were all considered as in the novella, Red was a middle-aged Irishman with graying red hair.  Regardless of this, director Frank Darabont had always envisioned Morgan Freeman in the role because of his “authoritative presence, demeanor and deep voice”.

 “Fight Club” (1999)

In David Ficher’s 1999 film “Fight Club”, there are two scenes that were actually not “acted”.  For example, there is a scene in the movie where Brad Pitt and Edward Norton’s characters are drunk and hitting golf balls at cars.  In reality both Pitt and Norton were drunk during filming but the golf balls were only hitting the side of the film’s catering truck.  Another scene involves Pitt and Norton’s characters fighting for the first time.  Though Norton was only suppose to fake hitting Pitt’s character in the ear, right before the take, Fincher pulled Norton aside and told him to actually punch Pitt in the ear.  When you watch the scene, you can actually see Norton smiling and laughing in the background while Pitt is in real pain.

-Raymond Calderon

Article by “Dashing” Shane Steele

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Two names forever tied to the Golden Age of Horror. On one hand, the sinister, plotting vampire. On the other, the lonely, angry patchwork monster. Both carved their names in history as icons in the world of cinema for portraying two of the most instantly recognizeable monsters in all of movies.

It was only natural to pair the two together after the combined success of Dracula and Frankenstein. So a mere three years after the release of Frankenstein, Lugosi and Karloff were set to star in Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Black Cat, a film that shared only the title of the Edgar Allan Poe’s story, despite billing that claimed otherwise. Lugosi played Dr. Vitus Werdegast, a psychiatrist recently freed from a prison camp planning to visit an “old friend”; Karloff, Hjalmar Poelzig, that very “friend”, an architecht who Werdegast accuses of condeming him to the prison camp and stealing his wife. David Manners and Julie Bishop were the honeymooners caught in the crossfire between the two enemies, with the Satanic Poelzig planning to make a sacrifice out of Bishop. With its fantastic score, dark atmosphere, creepy setting, and top-notches performances, The Black Cat came to be recognized as a classic, in addition to Universal’s highest grossing movie of 1934.

It is important to note that Karloff and Lugosi were portrayed as equals in the film. They each recieved a fair amount of screen time and equally billed at the time of release. Lugosi’s Werdegast does kill Karloff’s Poelzig in the end (in a rather startling scene-just watch it and you’ll know what I mean), but it’s only in retribution for Poelzig’s previous crimes.

Such equality would later fade.

Karloff and Lugosi would go on to make seven more pictures together, including Son of Frankenstein, The Invisible Ray, The Raven, and The Body Snatcher. But the dynamic had changed. No longer were their names shown in equal font on the posters. Karloff’s began to dominate, while Lugosi’s grew smaller and smaller. Karloff also began to recieve the more prominent roles, with Lugosi relegated to being a sidekick of sorts.

Today, we still remember both men as Dracula and The Monster. Their legacies would not be tarnished by this rift. But looking back, it is sad to see Lugosi slip into addiction and Ed Wood movies while Karloff continued to get decent work both on the screen and on stage.

So if the Karloff-Lugosi pairing is to be seen at it’s finest, The Black Cat is a must. It’s a gripping, thrilling tale of two of horror’s best at odds.

The Black Cat will be playing at 8 PM on Thursday, October 27th at SLC’s Phantom Theatre.

Mia Farrow stars in ROSEMARY’S BABY tonight at the FSU SLC 7Pm and 10:15 PM

“Indiana Jones Franchise” (1981-2008) 

One of the most beloved and famous film series of all time is that of Indiana Jones.  Starting in 1981, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” introduced the world to Indiana Jones, an archeologist who journeys across the world discovering famous archeological treasures with wit and his whip.  What most people don’t know is that the order of the movies does not actually reflect the passage of time within the series.  Though “Raiders of the Lost Ark” took place in 1936, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” takes place in 1935, a year before the events of the first film and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” takes place in 1938, three years after the events of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”.  Another fun fact: the actress who played Indiana Jones’ love interest Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) in “Temple of Doom” would actually later become and is the current wife of Steven Spielberg.

“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) 

Ranked #9 in the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Trills” list of movies is Roman Polanski’s tale of a woman (played by Mia Farrow) who is afraid that her husband has struck a deal with her next door neighbors to sacrifice her child to a cult and how far she would go to protect her baby.  One scene in particular is of interest: the scene in which Rosemary, confused and disoriented, walks across a busy street in Manhattan onto oncoming traffic.  When filming the actual scene, Farrow was scared that a car would actually hit her would hit her.  In response Polanski pointed to her pregnancy bump (a fake) and responded,”No one’s going to hit a pregnant woman.”  Additionally, the scene was was not staged and included Farrow actually performing the stunt.  Since the crew was scared they would be hit, Polanski used a hand-camera and followed her to shoot the scene.

“Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
In Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic, one if not the most iconic scene of the movie is that of the landing on Omaha Beach, which by itself took $12 million out of the film’s $70 million budget.  Just for the underwater shots used in the disimparking sequence, 40 barrels of fake blood were used.  Additionally, the scene consisted of 1,500 extras of which 20-30 were actual amputees hired for the production.  Interestingly, the 25 minute scene was not storyboarded for Spielberg wanted spontaneous reactions and for “the action to inspire me as to where to put the camera”. 

-Raymond Calderon

“The Thing” (1982)

In the 1982 film, “The Thing” director John Carpenter was advised by his film editor to film a “happy” ending to the film, for protective reasons, while actor Kurt Russel was still available.  Carpenter agreed and they filmed a scene in which Russel’s character R.J. MacReady was rescued and proven human by a blood test administered to him.  Though it was shot, this scene was not used in either test screenings and has yet to be released to the public.  In addition, the Norwegian camp that is scene in the film is actually just the American camp after the explosions.

“THX 1138” (1971)

In his directorial film debut, filmmaker George Lucas adapted “THX 1138” from his 1967 student film “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB”.  More famously known for his “Star Wars” Saga though, most people don’t know that George Lucas has only directed 6 films in his entire career: “THX 1138”, “American Graffiti”, “Star Wars: A New Hope”, and then the prequel Star Wars films.  Though he wrote all the Star Wars films, George Lucas did not direct “The Empire Strikes Back” or “Return of the Jedi”.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1973)

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is an adaptation of the 1973 British musical of the same name, released in 1975.  This film was actually Tim Curry’s first screen credit and included numerous members of the original musical’s cast.  This movie actually has the distinction of having the longest-running theater release of any film ever created; 20th Century Fox never pulled the film and it has run across the country for 36 years!  This is extremely ironic as well considering this film was only given a “limited-release period” by 20th Century Fox.

-Raymond Calderon

It’s no surprise that people wanted to see X-Men: First Class when it came out. Lots of us simply enjoy the mutant abilities, wanting to pretend we have them ourselves. So, some of these movie lovers won’t remember the fine details of the plot, but hardcore X-Men movie fans will notice the inconsistencies that First Class has with the rest of the series. For everyone else, here’s a list with some of them (warning of spoilers):

• The fantastic Wolverine cameo was a brilliant addition in the script, but it also raises some questions on why Professor Xavier never mentioned that he had tried to recruit him before. Is it a big secret? Does he just not want to bring it up? Maybe. This is the Professor we are talking about.
• 1962: we learn how Xavier becomes paralyzed. Sometime during the 1980s: …wait. Is that the Prof. walking to meet Jean Grey? Huh, wonder how that happened. Not to mention he’s acting like really good buddies with Erik again.
• Storm looks quite a bit mature for a young girl in her cameo during First Class. Gee, how old is she?  
• We learn about Beast’s cool transformation in this movie, but in X2 there’s an easter egg of a furless Hank on the TV. Personally, I like to believe he hired an actor to appear for him, but other people aren’t so sure.
• Speaking of Hank, he’s pretty cool to make that Cerebro—waaait, didn’t Magneto help Xavier build it? Isn’t that what we’re told by the professor in X1? We’ll forgive him this time, benefit of the doubt. Since, you know, it wasn’t in the mansion yet.
• And in X1 Professor Xavier seems to have forgotten about the existence of Magneto’s, formerly Shaw’s, helmet. Oops. Well…I’m afraid you’re becoming a little senile, Professor X…

Does this take away from the quality of this film? Not really. And perhaps the discrepancies will be fixed or explained since a rumor of two sequels for First Class is going around. First Class is definitely a fun and pretty engaging watch. If you haven’t already come see the last showing at the SLC tonight@10:15!

Also, on a note to sign off, within First Class itself…doesn’t Professor X say that Hank made the suits bullet proof? Hank, do your job. This is why we can’t have nice things.

- Annushka

1) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

When casting “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, Richard Harris (Dumbledore) was approached by denied the role for numerous reasons: his health had started to decline and Harris did not want his role in the Harry Potter films to overshadow the rest of his 50 year film career.  He relented and accepted the role though when he found out that his 10-year-old granddaughter “threatened never to speak to him again if he did not take” the role.  When Harris died before filming of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, the role of Dumbledore was offered to Sir Ian McKellen but he turned it down to due Harris having once called him “a dreadful actor”.  McKellen also felt that he had played a similar character in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, as the wizard Gandalf.

2) The Matrix

Though Keanu Reeves would eventually get the role of Neo in the films, he was actually not the first choice.  Will Smith was offered the part but turned it down “because of skepticism over the film’s ambitious bullet time special effects”.  He would later say it was his biggest career regret yet if he had been given the role, “he would have messed it up.”  Nicolas Cage was also offered the role but family obligations got in the way.  Opposite Neo, was Trinity, which Sandra Bullock turned down because she didn’t see herself working well with the actor who, at that time was considered for Neo.  Even more interesting, Sean Connery, better known for his work in the James Bond films, turned down the role of Morpheus.

-Raymond Calderon

There was a happy time when I could watch any movie instantly, and yet I could reserve a movie not on instant queue on DVD.  It was a time when all we had to do in order to transition back and forth is to click either “Watch Instantly” or “On DVD” tabs.

But then ever since Netflix begat Qwikster, and especially since they made a Berlin Wall-proportionate paywall between streaming and DVDs, the news only seemed to get worse.  One might say, “That’s not true, because I can watch Netflix on my Android phone now!” Well it doesn’t really matter at this point, because at this point, Netflix lost its red couch treatment.

For one, Netflix’s competition has now become much more disgusting:Hulu Plus.  For only $8 a month (same as the Netflix streaming-only plan), Hulu Plus gives you the latest and vintage TV shows plus free movies (especially from the Criterion Collection) - in HD, albeit at the expense of “limited-commercial reproduction.”  That seems rather feature-packed.

On the other side, Netflix gives you the latest movies thanks to the Starz Play program (which, if you clicked at the “worse” link, will be gone in February).  Oh look, I could stop writing this blog post right now and watch Tangled if I wanted.  Additionally, the user-interface is clean and intuitive, however unreliable its Microsoft Silverlight player can be (Hulu Plus runs on Flash).

But that only covers the streaming department.  So how does Netflix fare with DVDs? Well, Netflix’s DVD service, which will be called Qwikster, will be the same price as Streaming-Only ($8 a month), and delivery to mailbox will take around two days.  Netflix’s DVD collection is plentiful and diverse (the last movie I watched was City of God [A]), but there is one problem.  Its paper envelope and paper DV sleeve doesn’t really compel one to say, “Oh look honey! I finally got [Some romantic comedy] from Netflix!” Rather, one merely has to remove all the exclamation points.

So does that mean Redbox is the winner? Well it looks like the nightly DVD rental rate is about $2, but it also has video streaming and can even rent games (watch out, Gamefly). But then, there’s Redbox’s problem: A nightly rate and the fact that there’s “27,800 Redbox kiosks.”  In FSU, there’s one on the CVS at Tennessee St., but it’s just not the same as getting mailed.  And there’s the “F” word in Redbox: “Find,” meaning that the movie I could watch could be in a Redbox in Walmart, or some farther location.  

So thus far, it looks like Netflix’s latest lovechild has plenty of competition up ahead, a troubled pricing plan, plenty of publicity, and a “I’m sorry on YouTube” assault.  There’s Apple vs Google, and then there’s this: Netflix versus everyone else.  The red envelope is getting its own 300, and it looks like Reed Hastings and Andy Reditch gave Netflix this.

Edward Kang

Need cool facts to entertain your friends with when you go to the movies?  Well, look no further!  In order to celebrate almost a month into college here at Florida State University, I’m here to give you THOSE MOVIE FACTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW about some of the movies that have played at the Student Life Cinema!  Let’s start off with:

1) Citizen Kane

During the filming of “Citizen Kane”, make-up artist Maurice Seiderman had to make an already overweight Orson Welles look both handsome and dashing as a young man and then later on transform him into an wrinkled, old man.  In order to achieve this Seiderman applied so much makeup to Welles that as both a young and old man, Welles could barely move.  It actually took 6-7 hours to transform Welles into “Old Kane”, meaning that he had to get up at 2AM everyday to be prepared to shoot at 9AM.

Orson Welles taking off his makeup during the filming of “Citizen Kane”

2) Scream

During the filming of the movie that essentially revitalized the slasher genre, Wes Craven decided to add an element of fear to enhance the actor’s performance.  Roger L. Jackson, who was selected to provided the voice of the killer “Ghostface” was never allowed to meet with the actors.  This was done to “prevent the actors from associating a menacing voice with a face.  During filming, Jackson actually was talking over the phone to the actors in order to increase that anonymity.

Though Roger L. Jackson has voiced “Ghostface” throughout the series, he has actually never worn the costume.

3) Thor

Though numerous directors have taken up the mantle of directing a superhero movie, it came a surprise when Kenneth Branagh was announced to be the director by Marvel Studio.  This is due to the fact that Branagh, is critically acclaimed for acting and directing in film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s works.  This includes “Henry V”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Othello”, “Hamlet”, “Love Labors Lost” and “As You Like It”.  Though most of these movies came out in the 1990s, our generation will recognize Branagh in his role of Gilderoy Lockhart in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”.

This guy directed “Thor”?

Well, that’s all for this edition.  I hope to be doing these each month and recapping some of the movies that have played at the SLC and I might even start giving clues as to movies that might be brought to the theater.  Oh, what’s this?  Here’s one now:

“Rock him.”

“You’re trying to get me to be his mother.”

“Aren’t you his mother?”

That’s a direct quote from one of our incoming features.  I wonder what it’ll be…

Till the next time kids,

-Raymond Calderon