Thank you for this! I have no idea how I'm going to actually be able to DO this, not I'm going to add it to the list so I can wistfully look at it and think "someday I'll be around to do this..."
Worked perfectly! I share the enthusiasm for the tagline expressed herein and would also offer up the simpler '...IT HAPPENED!' that adorns the cover art of Second Sight's 4K edition as almost equally great.
I know the default answer to Movie You Must See In a Theater is LAWRENCE OF ARABIA but I gotta say, seeing TEXAS CHAINSAW in theaters was revelatory for me. I had seen the movie a fair few times already and liked it when I saw it in theaters for the first time for a film class in college and I gotta say, it went from "reasonably scary" to "intense, nightmarish terror."
The sound effects alone, surrounding you with nowhere to go, were deeply unsettling. Anyhoo, not the point of the OP, but yeah - see it in theaters!
I have to say the 4K release that came out either last year or the year before looks and sounds amazing. Never imagined TCM looking so good.
I love this idea guys, thanks for doing this. Not to be greedy, but can we nominate more movies for this treatment? We’re in the midst of 25th anniversaries for the great films of 1999. This week was the 25th anniversary of Fight Club’s release, for instance.
Nominate away! Keith and I haven't settled on what we might do next, but I do think anniversaries are good pegs for these things. Can't believe it's been 25 years. The AVC hired me full-time in the summer of '99. Quite a year to clock in!
Now that you’ve asked, I haven’t tried to go to them directly from the AVC site. When I click on them in the Critic Reviews section of IMDb, the links don’t work anymore. But it seems like I also read a while back that they were making them unavailable. Will have to investigate further when I get home and report back. I hope I’m wrong!
I guess it’s just the IMDb links that are broken. Now I know to check the site directly when I’m considering a movie and wonder if you guys wrote about it. Sorry about that.
And currently free with ads (in the US) on Tubi, Prime, Roku Channel, Plex; subscription with Peacock. Bonus points if the commentary syncs up with an ad perfectly.
If you look up at the top of the post, there is a transcript option available. It may be a little rough since it's computer generated-- and will likely be mucked up by our verbal bobbles-- but hopefully you'll find that helpful.
Just finished this, and it was so great! Thank you! I did think it was funny how often one of you would stop midsentence to wince or comment on the brutality of a specific moment.
I also have to fly in here to defend the newest Texas Chainsaw, an unfairly maligned entry into this series, whose best entries after the first have had some meta commentary or parody in them. Texas Chainsaw was a great remake/belated sequel to this original movie, for three reasons:
1. It's a sub-90 minute movie. That alone makes it start at 3 stars
2. The kids are REAL shitty, making me root for Leatherface (and I think that was intentional (the kid on the bus filming, saying "You're going to get cancelled" right before they all got cut up by a behemoth who cares not for social clout was boss))
3. They beautifully parodied the Laurie Strode/Old Final Girl comes back, and as she sits in the front of the car, doing a Large Marge, saying, "It was fifty years ago... like a night like tonight...", the kids are screaming because Leatherface is running up to the car, she gets instantly murdered.
Bonus: The last shot mirroring this last shot, but the car is a self-driving EV. Perfect.
Double Bonus: I may have been deep in my cups, which made me love every moment of this movie.
Thanks again for doing this, and for creating a space where I can profess my... well, my like, for this dumb, 48 years later sequel to absolutely no one who asked (except for one of you when you said "it's bad").
Oh! And I forgot that it's better than almost every other Texas Chainsaw sequel AND there's that one time when Leatherface breaks a guy's wrist and stabs him in the heart with the protruding bone. Not too gross, made me laugh with shock.
oh this is a fantastic idea. Thank you for putting in the time!
DUDES
This rules, can't want to listen to it with the movie.
I like this idea!
This is awesome, thanks for doing it.
I’ll definitely try to work this into my (already crowded) viewing schedule before the month is over.
Can’t wait to try this!
Yes to more commentary tracks!
Love this - been planning to revisit TCM and will def queue it up with this afterward.
Added to my overstuffed podcast queue :)
BTW Mike Flanagan has a new podcast where he does with different directors and their movies.
https://www.spectrevision.com/podcasts/directors-commentary
Thank you for this! I have no idea how I'm going to actually be able to DO this, not I'm going to add it to the list so I can wistfully look at it and think "someday I'll be around to do this..."
Worked perfectly! I share the enthusiasm for the tagline expressed herein and would also offer up the simpler '...IT HAPPENED!' that adorns the cover art of Second Sight's 4K edition as almost equally great.
I know the default answer to Movie You Must See In a Theater is LAWRENCE OF ARABIA but I gotta say, seeing TEXAS CHAINSAW in theaters was revelatory for me. I had seen the movie a fair few times already and liked it when I saw it in theaters for the first time for a film class in college and I gotta say, it went from "reasonably scary" to "intense, nightmarish terror."
The sound effects alone, surrounding you with nowhere to go, were deeply unsettling. Anyhoo, not the point of the OP, but yeah - see it in theaters!
I have to say the 4K release that came out either last year or the year before looks and sounds amazing. Never imagined TCM looking so good.
I love this idea guys, thanks for doing this. Not to be greedy, but can we nominate more movies for this treatment? We’re in the midst of 25th anniversaries for the great films of 1999. This week was the 25th anniversary of Fight Club’s release, for instance.
Nominate away! Keith and I haven't settled on what we might do next, but I do think anniversaries are good pegs for these things. Can't believe it's been 25 years. The AVC hired me full-time in the summer of '99. Quite a year to clock in!
It really irks me, to say the very least, that old AVC reviews are no longer available. Is there any place where your AVC reviews can be accessed?
Is that true? Is the archive not active on the current site?
Now that you’ve asked, I haven’t tried to go to them directly from the AVC site. When I click on them in the Critic Reviews section of IMDb, the links don’t work anymore. But it seems like I also read a while back that they were making them unavailable. Will have to investigate further when I get home and report back. I hope I’m wrong!
My bad. I don’t know if it’s everything, but your work is still there:
https://www.avclub.com/search?q=Scott%20tobias
I guess it’s just the IMDb links that are broken. Now I know to check the site directly when I’m considering a movie and wonder if you guys wrote about it. Sorry about that.
this is convincing me to buy tix for the Alamo screening in November
And currently free with ads (in the US) on Tubi, Prime, Roku Channel, Plex; subscription with Peacock. Bonus points if the commentary syncs up with an ad perfectly.
Oh man, if somehow every version of the film were available with the same ads, Keith and I could have some fun with that.
Will a transcript be released for people who prefer or have to read?
If you look up at the top of the post, there is a transcript option available. It may be a little rough since it's computer generated-- and will likely be mucked up by our verbal bobbles-- but hopefully you'll find that helpful.
I missed that! Thanks for providing it as an option and graciously pointing it out to an unobservant me.
Just finished this, and it was so great! Thank you! I did think it was funny how often one of you would stop midsentence to wince or comment on the brutality of a specific moment.
I also have to fly in here to defend the newest Texas Chainsaw, an unfairly maligned entry into this series, whose best entries after the first have had some meta commentary or parody in them. Texas Chainsaw was a great remake/belated sequel to this original movie, for three reasons:
1. It's a sub-90 minute movie. That alone makes it start at 3 stars
2. The kids are REAL shitty, making me root for Leatherface (and I think that was intentional (the kid on the bus filming, saying "You're going to get cancelled" right before they all got cut up by a behemoth who cares not for social clout was boss))
3. They beautifully parodied the Laurie Strode/Old Final Girl comes back, and as she sits in the front of the car, doing a Large Marge, saying, "It was fifty years ago... like a night like tonight...", the kids are screaming because Leatherface is running up to the car, she gets instantly murdered.
Bonus: The last shot mirroring this last shot, but the car is a self-driving EV. Perfect.
Double Bonus: I may have been deep in my cups, which made me love every moment of this movie.
Thanks again for doing this, and for creating a space where I can profess my... well, my like, for this dumb, 48 years later sequel to absolutely no one who asked (except for one of you when you said "it's bad").
Oh! And I forgot that it's better than almost every other Texas Chainsaw sequel AND there's that one time when Leatherface breaks a guy's wrist and stabs him in the heart with the protruding bone. Not too gross, made me laugh with shock.
Theatre near me is showing the 4k restoration on Halloween, so don't mind if I do.