The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

Cleveland/CWRU Marathon, Jan16-17 list announced.

8:30 PM - Godzilla (2014, PG-13, 35 mm)
11:00 PM - [Surprise I] (--, PG, 35 mm)
1:15 AM - The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957, UR, 35 mm)
3:00 AM - Sleeper (1973, PG)
4:45 AM - Steamboy (2004, PG-13, 35 mm)
7:15 AM - Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989, PG, 35 mm)
9:00 AM - Forbidden Planet (1956, G)
11:00 AM - [Surprise II] (--, Approved, 35 mm)
12:30 PM - Jodorowsky's Dune (2013, PG-13, 35 mm)
2:45 PM - Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958, PG)
4:15 PM - Edge of Tomorrow (2014, PG-13, 35 mm)
6:30 PM - [Surprise III] (--, Approved, 35 mm)
8:00 PM - Jumanji (1995, PG, 35 mm)
10:00 PM - Tremors (1990, PG-13, 35 mm)
Announcement is on Facebook.
Just noted that Jodorowsky's Dune was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary.
Steamboy is manga steampunk by the guy who made Akira.
Usually one surprise is a newbie, one pretty wacko and one humorous - but who knows. Although the overall list is sort of pedestrian a little quality among the surprises would make it a decent (All 35mm!) list.
Most often they add some special treat. They also run about two hours late by the end, taking them well into the next day.

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Thar’s only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we’re the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it’s a mighty sobering thought. - Walt Kelly

You say pedestrian - I say one of the most appealing line-ups I've seen from CWRU in years.

Nice to see all that

Spoiler: show

35MM FILM

on the tab.

Note: Jodorowsky's Dune has NOT been Oscar nominated yet. It did make the shortlist, but, the actual nominations come out in January.

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Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

Thank you LA. I checked my source and indeed it made the "Shortlist.", not the final list of nominees.
One of fifteen. The only other film on the list that I know anything about is CitizenFour - about Edward Snowden.
Still, it's significant recognition of our genre and the makers thereof.

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Thar’s only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we’re the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it’s a mighty sobering thought. - Walt Kelly

What is the ticket price for this event?

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"If you have GHOSTS you have Everything" - Papa Emeritus II GHOST B.C.

From the CWRU Facebook Page:

Wonder how they keep track of who pays $30.00 and who pays $4.00

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"If you have GHOSTS you have Everything" - Papa Emeritus II GHOST B.C.

I can answer that, actually.

If you buy a ticket for the entire event, you get a wristband that you wear for the whole event.

If you only want to see a single movie, at the ticket booth, you give them an ID and they write down which movie you came in for. Then to get your ID back, you pay $4/film.

And with some last minute conversations, it looks like I will be making the 2+ hour drive north and heading up to CWRU next week for the event!

Got back from the show early this morning.
The three "Surprises" were as old hat as can be imagined. They were:
Mutant Ninja Turtles (Why?)
Island of Lost Souls (A classic, but hard to watch. Saw it at a Thon last year.)
and, the definitive excrement (which I had previously avoided and therefore stayed up for) Plan Nine From Outer Space There was a 5 minute joke Bloopers reel after the film that was better than the eternity of the actual movie. I question the choice as it was previously shown 25 years ago, which more than fulfills the goof of playing what has been described as the worst movie ever made.
Jodorowsky's Dune, & Edge of Tomorrow were my favorites, and perhaps by no coincidence two of the only three relative newbies. The other, the recent version of Godzilla, was actually quite good, although I missed this version not stomping Tokyo. Made you care about what happened to some of the characters. Not much internal continuity, but great visuals.
I very much like Tremors and Jumanji, and was glad for persons who got to see them for the first time. Unfortunately I had seen both of them recently, but that's my problem.
Sleeper is unique but I couldn't stand seeing it again, so I followed the obvious instruction.
Forbidden Planet is of course a genuine classic, but couldn't get into it for the tenth viewing.
Shrinking Man, 50 Foot Woman & Honey I Should Have Pureed the Kids are all fillers. and unfortunately do not come up to the level of other retro stuff shown in previous years.
The advisor and movie society members set up a mock CWRU on stage for a lottery winner to stomp, Godzilla style. I credit their good spirits and work. Wish I could have gotten more into the movies. Still a nice event.
I wait with anticipation to hear others' reactions. Lots of Columbus Marathon types were there.

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Thar’s only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we’re the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it’s a mighty sobering thought. - Walt Kelly

Pogo hit the main points in his post, but I'll also agree wholeheartedly that the CWRU Marathon was once again a great time. The Film Society's continuing commitment to...um...film (35mm, that is) remains a big draw for me, making even some of the dodgier programming decisions well worth the view.

JODOROWSKY'S DUNE was far and away my favorite title in the lineup. If you haven't seen it, do so as soon as possible. Pretty amazing that a documentary about a film that was never made can be so profound and inspiring.

And something strange has happened over the last few years. The Cleveland crowd, which was once a rowdy, bordering on intolerable, bunch of talkers, has softened so much in the last few Marathons that I actually felt a bit guilty for some of the mid-film patter my cohorts and I engaged in late in the fest. Not sure whether this change is due to the aging of some of the old guard, or in an influx of younger attendees who aren't as extroverted (a trait that the Columbus Marathons seem to have developed), but it's actually pretty cool. As a result, a Marathon like this one (which had a lineup that was a bit too kid-oriented and safe for my tastes) was still a tremendous amount of fun.

I'll throw a few quite notes out there. I had a great time and this was one of the stronger lineups out of any I've attended.

Surprise I = TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES - Hey, it could have been the Michael Bay version.

Surprise II - THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU - Always a classic, but I've seen it in cinema pretty recently.

Surprise III - PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE - *yawn* At least I managed to wake up to see your stupid minds! Stupid, STUPID!

I was happy to revisit everything I'd seen before. HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS was more charming than I'd remembered. SLEEPER is always a fun romp. I managed to re-affirm my appreciation for the new GODZILLA, JUMANJI. Anne Francis can star in my FORBIDDEN PLANET anytime.

Criticisms aside, I basically enjoyed EDGE OF ALL YOU NEED IS LIVE, KILL, REPEAT DIE TOMORROW. I was entertained by it. It doesn't entirely work and I don't feel I need to see it again (although, of course, I will) but it's certainly watchable and things blow up good.


I'm going to give a boisterous, hearty second to Joe here and say that this was really what made the whole trip for me. If you haven't seen it, you should, and if you can see it in a theater full of like-minded individuals being introduced to this surreal tale, all the better.

I dearly love TREMORS, especially as a finale. It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it's got a lot of energy and I think it's exceptionally well made.

I will say, though, Cleveland definitely takes it out of me. STEAMBOY was a fever dream from the floor of the auditorium, as was the second act of several other films. Even planning sleep breaks didn't help much this year.

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David A. Zecchini; Creature of the Wheel, Lord of the Infernal Engines
"Damnati Im Ludum" (VitruvianZeke@att.net)

I also had a blast, although the differences in my film tastes are pretty obvious here.

Godzilla - I'm a huge fan of the Big "G" in almost any incarnation, and I quite like this movie. It has less Godzilla than I'd like, but the human plot is much better than I remembered. It's not my favorite kaiju film, but it might be my favorite disaster movie.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - I'm exactly the right age to remember this film fondly, and I'll take Henson Studios practical effects over Michael Bay's CGI any day.

The Incredible Shrinking Man - By this point, the exhaustion of a full day of work caught up to me, and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. But I still really enjoyed what I saw.

Sleeper - I do not care for Woody Allen, and the slapstick comedy bits fell flat, so I followed the advice of the title after about 20 minutes.

Steamboy - Not the best anime film of the past decade, but enjoyable enough.

Honey I Shrunk the Kids - I actually *really* enjoy this movie, but I needed real food, and being on a no-gluten diet meant that I had to leave the theatre because doughnuts and bagels won't cut it for me. Came back in time for the climax. Still enjoyed what I saw.

Forbidden Planet - I will never, never, never turn down a chance to watch this on the big screen.

Island of Lost Souls - "What is the law?" To enjoy a classic film, dammit. People who griped about this one mystify me.

Jodorowsky's Dune - The stand-out of the marathon. I know that in Columbus we've expressed lots of complaints about documentaries, but this one is absolutely fascinating. I'd have loved to see what Jodorowsky created put on film.

Sadly, that was where we had to cut out due to obligations back in Columbus. I'll chime in with Joe's observations about the crowd being much more sedate than I remembered, but that made watching the classics a lot easier for me.

It's been two years since I made it up to CWRU. I will likely not wait that long again.

I was half tempted to go up for this one but the amount of newer,more mainstream films was WAY too much to make the journey. If there was a little more older diversity of rare and older showings I might have had to roll the dice on it but seemed WAY too mediocre of a lineup. Seemed a little bland with very little obscurity. Just an opinion.

Well, three newbies, mostly previously unseen by the audience, wasn't really a preponderance of "Newer mainstream movies."

But basically I agree with IK.
There wasn't "Older diversity of rare - - -" And the three surprises were even more "Bland' with no "Obscurity"
Sum total, if CWRU were not a big annual event for myself and my friends and if it had not been in my own town, I probably would not have been there. I did enjoy myself, but that had less to do with the selections than the occasion of the event.

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Thar’s only two possibilities: Thar is life out there in the universe which is smarter than we are, or we’re the most intelligent life in the universe. Either way, it’s a mighty sobering thought. - Walt Kelly