Good morning, gentle readers, and welcome to today's Daily Grindhouse ... or as it's better known as On This Day In Science Fiction, Fantasy, And Horror History!
Well, well, well ... how's everybody been?
I know, I know, I know ... I haven't exactly done a Daily Grindhouse for some time, and that's been a deliberate choice on my part. I keep tabs on what posts actually resonate with regular readers -- or, at least, what posts I can effectively measure -- and these Daily Grindhouses have kinda/sorta dipped a bit in interest so far as the metrics were showing. Doing them every day certainly runs the risk of negating the importance of celebrating, so I opted to take a bit of time off from them and focus on creating other new material for the readership instead. Speaking as a semi-active blogger and consumer of entertainment, there's this constant battle between encouraging newbies to the site and rewarding oldtimers; this back-and-forth can get a bit exhausting, so I'm trying to create a stronger equilibrium with my work behind-the-scenes. Don't worry: I'll eventually get it all figured out -- probably on my deathbed -- but I persevere. That's the best I can promise everyone.
In any event ...
This morning, I did a quick glance over the Daily Citation Page for June 7th, and I thought it was time to pop onto the MainPage and highlight a bit of what makes this day unique in my quest to preserve history for readers. So let's buckle up and settle in for the details ...
Well, well, well ... how's everybody been?
I know, I know, I know ... I haven't exactly done a Daily Grindhouse for some time, and that's been a deliberate choice on my part. I keep tabs on what posts actually resonate with regular readers -- or, at least, what posts I can effectively measure -- and these Daily Grindhouses have kinda/sorta dipped a bit in interest so far as the metrics were showing. Doing them every day certainly runs the risk of negating the importance of celebrating, so I opted to take a bit of time off from them and focus on creating other new material for the readership instead. Speaking as a semi-active blogger and consumer of entertainment, there's this constant battle between encouraging newbies to the site and rewarding oldtimers; this back-and-forth can get a bit exhausting, so I'm trying to create a stronger equilibrium with my work behind-the-scenes. Don't worry: I'll eventually get it all figured out -- probably on my deathbed -- but I persevere. That's the best I can promise everyone.
In any event ...
This morning, I did a quick glance over the Daily Citation Page for June 7th, and I thought it was time to pop onto the MainPage and highlight a bit of what makes this day unique in my quest to preserve history for readers. So let's buckle up and settle in for the details ...
If you've been here in the readership for that long, then you've no doubt come across me using the phrase 'the perfect movie.'
My point in doing so is to underscore that -- most definitely -- I believe that there are perfect movies out there. I think that they're rare -- even the very best classics can suffer from some negligible blips here and there -- but when we see them we should be able to call them out for what they are if for no other purpose than to fully celebrate the fact that they were made. I find it even more enticing that we've had a few of what I call 'perfect movies' in the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror as those are the releases I've always gravitated toward anyway. Showing them with an extra bit of praise for their perfection is why I do what I do in this space, so I hope you'll all agree.
That said, yes, I do believe that 1984's Ghostbusters is one of those rare experiences when everything -- from cast and crew to when it was made and released -- aligned perfectly across the heavens. Of course, I've read some commentary over the years about how the film's special effects are a bit dated, but I've always thought that -- thematically -- these were some very solid creative choices. There's a frank cartoonishness to a lot of the action, so having something that looked too perfect might've injected some realism into the action that just wouldn't have felt proper. As the visuals are -- even like those above -- this infusion of the less-than-real tonally underscores that maybe -- just maybe -- we aren't supposed to take all of this seriously.
Peter Venkman certainly didn't.
This is also why that I -- as a consumer -- am glad to see that Ghostbusters survives decades later. While I haven't seen anything that's really come close to the charm and magic of the original (don't get me started, people), I think it's great that our genre franchises can branch out and take justified risks to maybe not so much enhance the IP as it is push it toward simply existing. In other words, I'll take an inferior follow-up so long as it's crafted with the right sentiment in mind. You can keep your gender-swapped imitators to yourself.
So ... celebrate a true original today ... because who ya gonna call when ghosts come a'knocking?
My point in doing so is to underscore that -- most definitely -- I believe that there are perfect movies out there. I think that they're rare -- even the very best classics can suffer from some negligible blips here and there -- but when we see them we should be able to call them out for what they are if for no other purpose than to fully celebrate the fact that they were made. I find it even more enticing that we've had a few of what I call 'perfect movies' in the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror as those are the releases I've always gravitated toward anyway. Showing them with an extra bit of praise for their perfection is why I do what I do in this space, so I hope you'll all agree.
That said, yes, I do believe that 1984's Ghostbusters is one of those rare experiences when everything -- from cast and crew to when it was made and released -- aligned perfectly across the heavens. Of course, I've read some commentary over the years about how the film's special effects are a bit dated, but I've always thought that -- thematically -- these were some very solid creative choices. There's a frank cartoonishness to a lot of the action, so having something that looked too perfect might've injected some realism into the action that just wouldn't have felt proper. As the visuals are -- even like those above -- this infusion of the less-than-real tonally underscores that maybe -- just maybe -- we aren't supposed to take all of this seriously.
Peter Venkman certainly didn't.
This is also why that I -- as a consumer -- am glad to see that Ghostbusters survives decades later. While I haven't seen anything that's really come close to the charm and magic of the original (don't get me started, people), I think it's great that our genre franchises can branch out and take justified risks to maybe not so much enhance the IP as it is push it toward simply existing. In other words, I'll take an inferior follow-up so long as it's crafted with the right sentiment in mind. You can keep your gender-swapped imitators to yourself.
So ... celebrate a true original today ... because who ya gonna call when ghosts come a'knocking?
One of the dirty little secrets to having a film like Ghostbusters (1984) is that someone sometime somewhere had to begin putting bricks into the foundation that could be the Horror/Comedy hybrid ... and -- believe it or not -- one film that did so was first released on this day all the way back in 1940.
The Ghost Breakers was a commercially and critically successful films that first dabbled in such a creative realm. Directed by George Marshall, the Horror/Comedy starred box office sensation Bob Hope alongside Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson, and Willie Best. From what I've read, Hope himself also thought fondly of the picture because it kinda/sorta gave him the chance as an actor to do something a bit different and actually try his hand at silver screen heroism. (The man was forever being cast in fairly traditional comic roles, so he was blessed with doing something a bit different in this outing.) Apparently, the film was so popular that it inspired a solid handful of other productions as well as being remade twice over the next two decades.
You want a bit of icing on that cake, do you?
Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd is even on record in an interview suggesting that it was 1940's The Ghost Breakers that served as a creative inspiration for his own ghostbusting business ... so how about the serendipity of those stars aligning with two motion pictures so thematically similar being released on the same day decades apart?
Honestly, I don't much remember The Ghost Breakers. I'm sure it's one of the flicks I watched in my youth -- so many moons ago now -- but it's vanished from memory. I might have to pick this one up and give it a solid review in this space in the days ahead ... so keep your eyes peeled.
The Ghost Breakers was a commercially and critically successful films that first dabbled in such a creative realm. Directed by George Marshall, the Horror/Comedy starred box office sensation Bob Hope alongside Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson, and Willie Best. From what I've read, Hope himself also thought fondly of the picture because it kinda/sorta gave him the chance as an actor to do something a bit different and actually try his hand at silver screen heroism. (The man was forever being cast in fairly traditional comic roles, so he was blessed with doing something a bit different in this outing.) Apparently, the film was so popular that it inspired a solid handful of other productions as well as being remade twice over the next two decades.
You want a bit of icing on that cake, do you?
Ghostbusters star Dan Aykroyd is even on record in an interview suggesting that it was 1940's The Ghost Breakers that served as a creative inspiration for his own ghostbusting business ... so how about the serendipity of those stars aligning with two motion pictures so thematically similar being released on the same day decades apart?
Honestly, I don't much remember The Ghost Breakers. I'm sure it's one of the flicks I watched in my youth -- so many moons ago now -- but it's vanished from memory. I might have to pick this one up and give it a solid review in this space in the days ahead ... so keep your eyes peeled.
My friends, casting matters.
Some might argue that there's no greater role in producing a film than in making sure -- at all costs -- to secure the right talent in the right roles. Of course, there are a great number of balls that need to ultimatley get juggled in the process of completing said picture, but how much weight rests on the shoulders of the talent quite possibly gets overlooked here and there. I like to point out perfection when I see it ... and that's what I'm doing today in calling attention to the birthday of Liam Neeson.
Neeson -- despite being in only a single entry of Star Wars' Prequel Trilogy -- truly embodied the spirit of what makes that franchise such an endearing commodity. With an incredible measure of respect, the actor became a Jedi Master -- a role audiences hadn't seen onscreen in a few decades -- very quickly catapulting viewers back to the confines of that galaxy far, far away. He had a grace and gravitas that, quite frankly, hasn't been matched in any of the franchise's efforts to this day; and I can't imagine any other creative having accomplished what he did in the role and having it become the legacy it is.
I realize that, perhaps, Neeson has courted a bit of controversy as of late for sounding off so negatively on the Star Wars sequels and Disney+ series; but I give him his due. The point that he was making -- so far as I interpret it -- was that there's a crashness and/or cheapness when you disturb what was accomplishing so winningly on the silver screen. Maybe he was even hinting that Star Wars has become a bit too commercially exploited for its own good. Whatever the case may be, I think it's perfectly fine that he spoke up as I wish others who have been instilled with preserving a property's legacy seem perfectly okay with its vapid misutilization.
(Here's looking at you, Ewan McGregor! Did you learn nothing from your Jedi Master?)
Happy Birthday, Mr. Neeson! Thanks for doing what you've done!
Some might argue that there's no greater role in producing a film than in making sure -- at all costs -- to secure the right talent in the right roles. Of course, there are a great number of balls that need to ultimatley get juggled in the process of completing said picture, but how much weight rests on the shoulders of the talent quite possibly gets overlooked here and there. I like to point out perfection when I see it ... and that's what I'm doing today in calling attention to the birthday of Liam Neeson.
Neeson -- despite being in only a single entry of Star Wars' Prequel Trilogy -- truly embodied the spirit of what makes that franchise such an endearing commodity. With an incredible measure of respect, the actor became a Jedi Master -- a role audiences hadn't seen onscreen in a few decades -- very quickly catapulting viewers back to the confines of that galaxy far, far away. He had a grace and gravitas that, quite frankly, hasn't been matched in any of the franchise's efforts to this day; and I can't imagine any other creative having accomplished what he did in the role and having it become the legacy it is.
I realize that, perhaps, Neeson has courted a bit of controversy as of late for sounding off so negatively on the Star Wars sequels and Disney+ series; but I give him his due. The point that he was making -- so far as I interpret it -- was that there's a crashness and/or cheapness when you disturb what was accomplishing so winningly on the silver screen. Maybe he was even hinting that Star Wars has become a bit too commercially exploited for its own good. Whatever the case may be, I think it's perfectly fine that he spoke up as I wish others who have been instilled with preserving a property's legacy seem perfectly okay with its vapid misutilization.
(Here's looking at you, Ewan McGregor! Did you learn nothing from your Jedi Master?)
Happy Birthday, Mr. Neeson! Thanks for doing what you've done!
For those of you regular readers: yes, I'm always looking for small(ish) ways to expand the Daily Citations Pages within SciFiHistory.Net.
One of the ways I've always been tinkering with behind the scenes is promoting a daily quote that can be pulled from the vast, vast, vast catalogue of dialogue and stories featured in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. The problem in doing so for me has always been either (1) having enough time and (2) making certain the quotes are functionally worth featuring. I don't just wanna post anything that's kinda/sorta already been posted elsewhere, so I take more time to throw something into the wind than do most. I might ultimately settle on something simple, true; but I'll always try to honor the spirit of what makes genre entertainment uniquely entertaining.
So watch for these little blurbs to begin popping up at the start of the Daily Citation Page. I'll eventually get around to giving them their own heading -- maybe 'Quotables' or something similar -- and I'll likely start sharing them across social media platforms as time permits.
One of the ways I've always been tinkering with behind the scenes is promoting a daily quote that can be pulled from the vast, vast, vast catalogue of dialogue and stories featured in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. The problem in doing so for me has always been either (1) having enough time and (2) making certain the quotes are functionally worth featuring. I don't just wanna post anything that's kinda/sorta already been posted elsewhere, so I take more time to throw something into the wind than do most. I might ultimately settle on something simple, true; but I'll always try to honor the spirit of what makes genre entertainment uniquely entertaining.
So watch for these little blurbs to begin popping up at the start of the Daily Citation Page. I'll eventually get around to giving them their own heading -- maybe 'Quotables' or something similar -- and I'll likely start sharing them across social media platforms as time permits.
Of course, there's more. Some might even say that there's a lot more. Still, all I hope to do in this space and time is to point out those particulars I find the most relevant ... the most intriguing ... and to share with you as my own form of self-serving promotion.
You know you want to know more, and I know that you know that you know you want to know more.
This is where I throw out the link to the page of interest and encourage you to begin your own deep dive into the realms of the Fantastic ... oh, what a journey, indeed ...
As always, thank you for reading ... thank you for sharing ... thank you for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
RSS Feed