The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

8:00 pm - Terminator Genisys (2015, PG-13, 35 mm)
11:00 pm - Surprise I (UR, 35 mm)
12:30 am - Mighty Joe Young (1949, UR)
2:00 am - Re-Animator (1985, R, 35 mm)
3:45 am - TBD
5:45 am - Starship Troopers (1997, R, 35 mm)
8:15 am - Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001, PG, 35 mm)
10:00 am - Time After Time (1979, PG)
12:00 pm - Surprise II (PG, 35 mm)
2:15 pm - The Whisperer in Darkness (2011, UR)
4:15 pm - Surprise III (UR, 35 mm)
6:00 pm - [Will be announced January 1]
8:45 pm - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984, PG-13, 35 mm)
10:45 pm - Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, R, 35 mm)

Plus (it says on their Facebook announcement) "Some terrific, vintage cartoons!"
$30, or $4/film.

Cleveland is increasingly mainstream. I used to look forward to their "Surprise!" films, however the last couple of years they have been even less creative than the regular lineup.
Whisperer In The Darkness is fun. It's a sort of 30s style retro indie filming of an HP Lovecraft novella.
Can't offer to put people up this year as we moved from a 7 bedroom place to one with 2 bedrooms - which are already booked. Say hello if you come. I'll take you out for coffee. I'm the guy with long hair who throws oranges from the stage. Yell "Columbus" and I'll throw you one.

For those not familiar with Cleveland, the food is poor unless you like hot dogs or overpriced pizza. BUT YOU CAN BRING YOUR OWN!! And eateries are within 10 minutes walk.
Here's a link for parking. You can do better, but you have to know the area. If anything changes, I'll update.
http://films.cwru.edu/pricesloc.php

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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

Time After Time is certainly a rare treat. Do they use 35mm or DVD?

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

Last year they announced ALL 35mm!! - and then played at least 3 off disks.
As you can see above, while they made the claim that 9 of the films will be 35, they made no such claim for Time After---
So who knows. It is clear that they attempt to find 35mm versions.

_________________
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

The TBA 6:00 PM film is
The Martian
Which puts (depending on the list you look at) the 9th, 21st & 32nd most popular films of 2015 on their schedule.
I was going to say something about them picking three of the most popular SF films of the year, but looking at two actual lists I found that the 1,2,3 & 8th most popular films were SF. The Martian did real well, coming in 9th. By the time you get to Terminator-Gen. at # 32, , depending on what you class as SF, it was #9 in the genre.
CWRU continues to go for pop.
The event is fun and the kids that run it put in a hell of a lot of work.
I've seen everything listed, except Atlantis, & Terminator (which I was sure would show up.) About three of the others are worth a second look. I could hope for the three surprises, but have been disappointed in the past.
So come on up, one and all. The theater is lovely and feels a lot more open than Columbus. The differences in policy around food & stuff in the area make it a worthy alternative to Columbus.
And it's cheap. $30 or $4 a film.
The films? Judge for yourself.

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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

My brother and I will be there again this year.

Domani.
Y'all come.

You'll discover a well run festival that usually includes some nice interludes.
In recent years they have included a wedding and an elaborate full stage model of the CWRU campus, that a lottery winner, wearing Godzilla shoes, then stomped.
Films will probably be familiar.
Here's the link to the show. http://films.cwru.edu/sfmarathon41/
Of particular note are the parking accommodations. If you get there before 5:00, I'd suggest the Veale parking garage on the south end of campus, off Adelbert. After 5, move to one of the free lots. Charge, $2 an hour. $10/day. If you want to get your car out after the attendant has left it's bad news - & expensive (Exact change? How much?) So move it.

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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

Myself, Joe, and Zeke will also be making the trek up there again this year. I'll look for ya to say, "howdy," Pogo!

Ended at 3:00 AM Sunday.
Which was annoying because the lateness seemed to be for no good reason. CWRU/Cleveland is always of indeterminate duration, but more than an hour was added by what seemed totally unnecessary problems with the last film. While they worked on it, a Star Trek animation was played which would not have been so bad, in theory, if the exact same episode had not been shown last year.
The three Surprises were Rocket Ship!, a movie version of the first Flash Gordon serial (1936).
The Blob! (1958). Sort of fun. I didn't remember from the last time I saw it, about 50 years ago, how bad an actor Steve McQueen was when he started out, and Back To The Future III(1990), always a joy.
Won't do the films in detail, unless others get into it, but actually had a better time that expected. The three heavy recent films, Terminator Gen., The Martian & Mad Max were balanced by Whisperer In The Darkness, an excellent Indie tribute to Lovecraft, The Atlantis cartoon, and the preponderance of light stuff from the 40s through the 80s.
Personally not a fan of Starship Troopers, Max or the latest Terminator, but certainly cannot complain that there was not a mix of types.
Nothing non-mainstream, except for Whisperer, but if you want a mix with a more creative lineup, go to Columbus or Boston (as you should.)

edit: I sort of blew off The Martian, above, due to its familiarity. In all aspects, including humor, acting, respect for science & all the cinematog. stuff that you would expect from a big budget film, the best SF of the last release year. And deservedly on the very short best list of all films last year. Yeah, Star Wars was great, but for different reasons.

And so to bed.

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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

The Martian was great, but I think I would have to vote for Ex Machina as the best SF movie of the year.

The Martian was the highlight of this marathon, for me. Or rather... seeing it with that particular crowd!

For those unaware, this scifi marathon, unlike ours or Boston's, is not for-profit. Instead of being held at/organized by a commercial theater, it is organized by the Case Western Reserve University Film Society, a student organization, and held at the Strosacker Auditorium on campus.

Also, Case Western is a big engineering school - of it's nearly 5000 undergraduate students, 1144 of them are in the Engineering school - it is their biggest undergraduate program.

So, anyway, The Martian was the 3rd from last film, starting at around 7pm Saturday. The marathon had been going for almost 24 hours at that point, and, as always at these events, the crowd had been gradually thinning out by then. I got up to use the restroom about halfway through the previous film (The Blob), and didn't think anything of it at the time, but did notice a larger than usual crowd hanging out in the lobby. For the rest of The Blob, I started to notice a lot of people coming into the theater looking for seats. At first I just thought this was people who left to nap for a few hours, who were now returning (you get a lot more of that in Cleveland, than Columbus or Boston, due to the longer overall length of the marathon - 30 or so hours).

But then, when The Blob ended, it was like the floodgates opened... all of a sudden another 100 or so people flooded into the theater... it was actually difficult for them to all find seats, the theater became so crowded. I wondered what the heck was going on... these were clearly NEW people coming to the marathon, but why would so many new people join the marathon with only 3 movies left?

One of my friends then pointed out to me that The Martian was the next film, and since the Case Western marathon allows single movie ticket purchases (for $4), and has such a prominent engineering school - these were probably mostly engineering students, who wanted to come bask in its celebration of science.

And, sure enough... it was like seeing the first Lord of the Rings movie, at the midnight premiere screening, with a full theater at a Ren-Faire. Or, something like that. I can't think of another film I have ever seen, with a more participatory audience (well, excluding RHPS or MST3K type audiences, who look at movies as opportunities to call out their own witicisms). The applause breaking out every time another problem was solved, was infectious, and so much fun! I think what made it so memorable to me was that it wasn't the usual fan-nerd type of appreciation of fan service (like when the audience erupts into applause at Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when the Millenium Falcom first appears), but, rather, science nerds celebrating being appreciated. It was a lot of fun to be a part of that with them - even though I'm not a scientist.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

Ssssssssscience (I don't know how to do that nifty thing where you make a text link):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtmndVpJrW8

According to the Golden Globes, The Martian is a "Comedy or Musical", so it's no wonder people enjoyed it. Maybe they were a bunch of musical comedy fans...