Chris Gore, Founder/Owner of FilmThreat/Author/Filmmaker: I
had to see the film, watched it, was horrified,
it stuck in my mind and have no interest in revisiting it and it left quite an impression.
Film Courage: Can you name a movie that is absolutely incredible,
not Star Wars that you've seen over a dozen times?
Chris: A movie that I've seen over a dozen times that is a movie that also I come back to kind
of renew my faith in movies is Blade Runner by Ridley Scott. The world building in Blade Runner,
the sci-fi, film noir, Harrison Ford's performance very unlike how we knew Harrison Ford when he
played Han Solo and I think that film has been incredibly influential, not just with other movies
(other dystopian films) because dystopian films of that era didn't necessarily take themselves
too seriously, they were borderline like sci-fi adventure comedies but Blade Runner is a classic
and it it has it's it's influential till today not just in movies but also in video games and in
design and it's funny it's really funny looking at how forward thinking Blade Runner is in the
sense that okay we don't have flying cars but we we do have many of the things that are in
Blade Runner La has become very Multicultural much more than the time in which it was made
so that's a movie I can just put on anytime and watch yeah and I think Philip K dick talked about
that he envisioned a world where the higher social strata would live up top and and as people's
income and sort of like place in society yeah they would be more toward the bottom Blade Runner in a
way kind of predicted the economic divide that we're currently experiencing with more and more
people being pushed from the middle class to lower middle class or worse and a huge divide between
the elites and everybody else and it's unfortunate but that that movie that's that's an element of
Blade Runner can you tell us about the movies that we want to watch over and over again versus
the movies we just want to see one time maybe they were satisfying enough but we're good one and done
I think that the movies that we watch over and over again were seeking one comfort food it's
a film I'm familiar with 2001: A Space Odyssey is a movie that I'll watch several times a year and
if it's at a retrospective screening I'll be sitting in a perfect spot in the theater for
that movie but I think we're seeking some kind of meaning and I will say with the films that I do
repeatedly view they're ones that I saw probably an impressionable age but also I'm looking at it
differently so it's interesting to see a film I saw when I was say 11 years old like Logan's Run
okay and then I see it differently now as an adult and and so that's what's that's why what
I find fascinating about films that we watch on repeat or will have repeated viewings at
different phases of life because it's in some way kind of a reflection of us and and so those films
for me are movies like a Logan's Run or a 2001: A Space Odyssey or Tron and and it's funny that
those movies perhaps with the exception of Logan's Runner still remembered I think Logan's Run is
more revered for the performances of Michael York and Jenny Agutter than the actual special effects
your mileage may vary on the special effects for that film but 2001: A Space Odyssey holds up to
today and I don't think that we would have had a Star Wars or George Lucas if Stanley Kubrick had
not made 2001 because 2001: A Space Odyssey the special effects from that film actually directly
influenced George Lucas he thought well now I can make a science fiction film with spaceships and
laser guns but I want it to be taken seriously I don't want it to be a joke but those those films
we we revisit we're trying to revisit I think I think it's a reflection of us now and that's
also revisiting perhaps who you were when that movie made an impression so I think of myself
as a kid being dropped off at the movie theater in Michigan by my mom to go see Logan's Run which was
PG and probably shouldn't been there's an ample amount of nudity and deeper themes in that film
but that is a film that resonates for me today that you could hardly convince anyone now to
watch it because it definitely feels the special effects are dated for sure but I don't know that
you'll find a better romance in a in a science fiction film than Logan's Run so I kind of I kind
of revisit that film it was seeing that by myself seeing it in a theater a couple times after that
when it came to the dollar theater and then also kind of was my first interest in I was a
young boy, I liked girls and so that movie was a romance and so yeah it reminds me of just being a
kid and that was sort of my first interest in girls was was seeing Logan's Run oddly
what's interesting when you when we re-watch a movie let's say like Kramer Versus Kramer which
I probably saw way too young but I thought it was so funny but now as an adult you
watch it and it's it's very sad it's it's yeah Kramer versus Kramer is heartbreaking it's not
there are a lot of moments of levity for sure right a lot but but there are there's so much more
going on I do think that that era in the 70s and even like partially into the 80s was such a great
era of American filmmaking I I I tell people revisit those films that was when there was
less far less studio influence studios in fact didn't really know what to do the marketing in
particular wasn't as sophisticated as it is now or as controlled and that in a good way I go back and
watch the original trailers for any movie from the 70s they didn't know how to make a movie
trailer back then or at least they didn't have the sort of very traditional kind of trailer-y
things that we see the the voice over the certain certain types of musical notes and themes that
are overused quite a bit and you you could look up videos on this there are so many so many ways that
they test these trailers because they're tracking emotion there's certain emotions and beats that
they want to hit in addition to basically ruining most of the movie up until potentially the third
act and if you're familiar with the genre you can probably figure out what's going to happen
it's rare I see a trailer these days for a studio movie that doesn't completely ruin the entire film
is that theater still there in Michigan I don't believe it is unfortunately it was the Berkeley
Theatre was turned into a drugstore the Berkeley Theatre was walking distance or at least bicycle
distance from my house and I would go see movies every week at that theater it was because it was
only a dollar and there was a drugstore directly next door where I bought comic books can you
name a movie that was absolutely incredible to watch but you've only seen it one time
yes and I'm sad to tell you it was the human centipede there there was if anything about
the story of The Human Centipede it's absolutely horrific and I'm not going to describe it for you
do your research at your peril but that's a film I saw once because I had to see it
and I I did review it for a a job at the time I was doing movie reviews on on G4 TV
and I had to see the film watched it was horrified it stuck in my mind have no interest in revisiting
it and it left quite an impression but normally movies I only see once I only see them once for
a reason and that's because they're not very good and I don't wish to revisit them
Human Centipede I thought just the concept of it it's it's horrifying and I guess what what did
stand out to me is that it's not as as graphic from a horror standpoint as you might think
it's it's much more psychological that's the type of horror film that I prefer is a psychological
horror film because I feel like that is a movie that will stay with you that is a movie that
when you turn off the lights at night to to go to sleep is going to still be in your head
and maybe you want to turn the light back on and read a book to kind of change the change
the sort of hamster wheel spinning around in your head about about a move and that's where I knew
a movie is is really good is when I can't stop thinking about it most unfortunately a lot of
films that I see I'll see one time and and they're fairly forgettable they're they're sort of that
middle ground it's the ones that are really bad or really exceptional are the ones that stand out
in my memory there's another class of movies I I think that like almost require a second
viewing in order to fully experience them I'll give you a couple of examples the movie Memento
Christopher Nolan's second feature film starring Guy Pierce is a movie that upon second viewing
you'll notice all the details that you missed and and so that one really really left an impression
on me another film I would say Darren Aronofsky is the fountain it's not one that's brought up
too often but that film really really left an impression upon me I think Darren Aronofsky is
a brilliant filmmaker and the fountain is another one that I believe you can
appreciate more upon second viewing because you have things happening in different time
periods kind of that that are reflecting or echoing each other so to speak so I do think
that in addition to movies you may only see once I think that movies that that require
a second viewing to to gain more from it I think are are really important to explore.