Movie Of The Day - Blow Out

BLOW OUT (1981) d: Brian DePalma

What might be my favorite Brian DePalma film 'Blow Out' is a great thriller. John Travolta plays Jack, a movie sound guy, who records an accident one night while recording ambient sound for a film. He rescues a girl from the accident, Sally, played by Nancy Allen. In the car was a presidential hopeful so the situation is covered up quickly. When listening to the audio Jack hears a gun shot right before the blow out of the car tire. I'll end it there because you should just watch the film.

I think 'Blow Out' has always been a favorite because there is the filmmaking part of the film which was always fascinating. Using filmmaking tools to help figure out what is going on. I just loved that. The film just came out on DVD and Blu-ray from Criterion and what better way, outside of the theatre, to see the film. Featuring a great performance by John Travolta and Brian DePalma at the top of his game this has always been one of those films I love to tell people about if they haven't seen it. Amazingly shot by one of the best cinematographers ever Vilmos Zsigmond and featuring a great score by Pino Donaggio. If you have yet to see this film by all means do.

Movie Of The Day - Top Gun

TOP GUN (1986) d: Tony Scott

I can't believe it's been 25 years. Times like this can make me feel old. This year marks the 25th anniversary of 'Top Gun' and as a celebration of that AMC Theatres did a special screening of the film in full 4K digital projection. Just like the 'Taxi Driver' screening I saw back in March (which you can read about here) the films have been remastered but not to an extent where they look new. They retain their respective film sources. Top Gun was always a grainy film inherent to the film stock it was shot on and that is intact. This was not some digitally cleaned up situation where the film no longer looks like film. The thing that amazed me was the cinematography. The restoration really brought that out big time. 'Top Gun' was always a good looking film and with someone like Tony Scott at the helm you know it's going to but I was never fully aware of how good it looks. This was my first time seeing it on the big screen and while a more energetic audience would have been nice the experience was great. I love my home theatre and my HD projector where I watch films on my wall which makes it like a mini theatre in my living room but nothing beats the actual experience of seeing a film in the theatre so I was so happy a friend reminded me this screening was tonight.

I'm not going to get into whether or not the film holds up because I'm sort of beyond that. The film holds up for me because the film came out when I was a kid and is still entertaining as hell. It's pure nostalgic for me. A new Blu-ray release is coming out to celebrate this which is great. Looking forward to picking it up when it comes out. But nothing will match tonight's screening.

I hope AMC continues to do these screenings because it is really a joy seeing all of these films again on the big screen.