Always Die Hard

Nicholas Waxman reflects on what Die Hard (1988) means to him…

I was only 6 months old when Die Hard blasted onto movie screens around the world and raised the bar to an unreachable height for all action movies to come. Die Hard is arguably the best action film ever made, it is most certainly the greatest Hollywood has ever attempted, and is definitely my favorite. You can separate Die Hard from the rest of the franchise (as most would with others quadrilogies such as the Alien, Indiana Jones and Rambo films) because Die Hard was the first off the rank and its success led producers to the next three films. The quality and success of the rest of the series is separate from our first outing with John McClane.

So, forget Die Harder (1992 – even though it was cool), remove Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995 – regardless of how awesome it was) from your mind and shatter the memory of Die Hard 4.0 / Live Free or Die Hard (2007) because it was more a John McClane film that a Die Hard film anyway. We are talking about the brilliance of Die Hard.

The title, how I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that decision. The title of the book that the film is based on Nothing Lasts Forever (1979, Roderick Thorp) would have been an awful movie title and the franchise would surely have failed (Nothing Lasts Forever 2: Nothing Lasts Forever’er ?) But to take a gamble on a title like Die Hard, feels to me a similar decision to Snakes on a Plane; but this was well before action movies were self aware enough to know that Die Hard, although an awesomely cool title, is ridiculous! You can’t ‘die hard’ – or soft for that matter – but it utilized a noun and an adjective to get our blood pumping (it may also be used as an adverb in this case).

Die Hard is the kind of title that gets every testosterone-fuelled human on this planet lining up at the cinemas, but as we know now, the producers weren’t so sure about that.
 Die Hard was saved, on my count, at least 12 times from doom.
The film was originally going to be Commando 2, with Schwarzenegger taking the lead and ruining it for everyone – can you imagine Arnold as John McClane saying “Now I know what a TV dinner feels like”, “Son of a bitch! Fist with your toes”,  not to mention “Yippie-Ki-Yay Mother F*&^%$#!”. 
Happily and luckily the film was saved from Arnold, but that wasn’t the end of potential doom. After Mr. Schwarzenegger turned it down Stalone was asked, he declined; then Burt Reynolds (what?!), and after he said thanks but no thanks Richard Gere was asked (which is madness, absolute madness); after Gere rejected the idea Harrison Ford was considered; before finally resting on the brilliant Bruce, Mel Gibson was asked to take the plunge. That Mel Gibson was asked is somewhat ironic because if Mel had done the film then Bruce Willis probably would not have had his John McClane cameo in Loaded Weapon (1993), a piss-take of Mel Gibson’s star vehicle Lethal Weapon (1987).

Bruce Willis seems like an obvious choice now of course, because he was brilliant, but he wasn’t even included on the original posters because the producers feared all those Willis-haters out there wouldn’t come and see it. But, the posters as we know were changed after its initial success.
 The film is cast almost perfectly (which makes it that much better) with strong actors taking up small and large roles; Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in his first feature (although he was in BBC R&J as Tybalt –very funny). Alan Rickman is a joy onscreen; a smarmy, sarcastic thief with sharp edges and a smooth, deep voice. He is pathetic and strong, happy to use violence and negotiation to get his way. What a villain! He is the strongest performer after Willis in this film – if not equally strong.
 Bonnie Bedelia is gorgeous and funny as Holly Gennaro (McClane’s estranged wife), her emotional range in this film is extensive considering her brief screen-time and she hits her marks with aplomb. I was always very sad to miss out on seeing her development over the series. Gennaro was a great character. 
William Atherton as Richard Thornburg the TV journalist is either done very well or quite poorly; he is over the top and incredibly unlikable; the man is a leech, which means job well done for Mr. Atherton.
The prize for best ensemble character must go to Harry Ellis, played by Hart Bochner. Ellis is a deluded fool with a cocaine problem, he is a patronizing tool who gets his comeuppance, not what he deserves, but it is satisfying in the moment.
 There are many more strong performances in the film including Reginald VelJohnson as the very funny, tortured cop with a heart of gold and John McClane’s only friend on the outside.

But what’s fun about that! Lets talk about the massive acting fails! 
Paul Gleason and Robert Davi are by far the worst thing about this film. Paul Gleason is DPC Dwayne T. Robinson, and all the acting classes in the world couldn’t save this guy from being an archetypal idiot. He yells, he screams, he has no time for courtesy until the FBI arrive, he doesn’t listen and he assumes the worst always. He is an idiot and if he had been mastered by the right man (or woman), this could have been a great character piece, like many of the others throughout the film (Argyle for instance).
 The worst performance in this movie though is Robert Davi as FBI agent Big Johnson. It is bad, it is bad, it is bad. The actor is over-confident with his comedy style dialogue and he underplays the mass murder he is potentially party to. It is a small role and made all the smaller for lack of a decent actor. I am glad FBI Agent Johnson is dead.
 That might have been a tad too rough, but when all the other actors are pulling their weight it’s hard to ignore the bad apples. 
It takes a tribe to raise a child and the same can be said for making a movie, John McTiernan directs this awesome movie, he is famous for directing bloody, action blockbusters and this is the greatest of his many greats.

The writing team is also superb and you can tell when the dialogue starts that this is not just a shoot-em-up pointless action, but there is heart, comedy and pain in this movie. Jeb Stuart (The Fugitive, 1993) and Steven E. de Souza (48 Hrs, 1982) re-wrote Roderick Thorp’s novel into a smorgasbord of gripping dialogue and iconic one-liners. 
Die Hard inserts itself easily and quickly into pop culture as “Yippie-Ki-Yay Mother F*&^%$#!” quickly became the [potentially] greatest overloaded, self referential, sarcastic remark in film history and will echo ever in eternity through universities and wherever more than 10 boys [or girls] drink beer. The Simpsons, Friends, The Sopranos, How I Met Your Mother, as well as countless movies and other TV shows have borrowed the premise, quotes and title for their own storytelling. 
Die Hard is a film yet to be rivaled and it stands alone as the best action movie of all time. I would like for Hollywood to come up with a better one, but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon.
 Die Hard is a must-see movie event, this is not for DVD consumption and The Astor is the only place to see it, on the BIG SCREEN.
 I absolutely love it.

Written by Nicholas Waxman for the Astor Theatre. 

Die Hard screens this Wednesday before the latest, somewhat more dire instalment in the franchise, A Good Day To Die Hard. Wicked Wednesday – All tickets $10

Cinema Fiasco return with the ‘Best Worst Movie’ of all time!

This Friday (May 03, 8pm) Cinema Fiasco, fresh from its recent triumph at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, returns to the Astor for another night of bad movie appreciation and one of the ‘best worst’ movies ever made: Troll 2 (1990)

A family of really terrible actors head off on holiday to a small town where they encounter a bunch of goblins who want to turn them into plants and eat them. This bogus sequel bears no relation whatsoever to Troll (not that that’s a bad thing) but is terrible in its own particular way with a bizarre cast of serious nonactors, oodles of camp dialogue (“Joshua is not a little shit. He’s just sensitive!”) and make-up effects that look like they cost about twenty bucks. The director is the great Italian schlock-master Claudio Fragasso. His deft touch shows in every frame.

It’s worth noting that in five years of entertaining Melbourne’s bad movie fans, Cinema Fiasco hosts Geoff Wallis and Janet A. McLeod have NEVER seen a movie quite like this one. It took them nearly three hours to watch a 95 minute movie because they kept rewinding the bits that made no sense – which was pretty much the entire film. They also had to stop the DVD for about ten minutes at one point because they were laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe.

Janet and Geoff will be presenting Troll 2 with their very special brand of live commentary throughout. That is if they don’t lose it like they did in rehearsal. © Geoff Wallis

So get down here on Friday night for what’s sure to be one of the ‘best worst’ cinema experiences of your life! Cinema Fiasco includes live commentary throughout the entire film. Special Prices apply, No Free List. For further info, please visit: astortheatre.net.au

Not Quite Right(s)

If you’ve ever wondered why we haven’t screened a digital DCP of Blade Runner (1982) since the installation of our awesome 4K digital projector, then Wednesday’s late change in programming is probably a really good departure point for a bit of chat about those necessary and sometimes prickly things called theatrical screening rights.

Though we talk about this often, it’s so important we think it’s worth re-stating; we would love to just pick the films we want to screen and programme those (and yes, before you ask, the first thing we would show would be the original Star Wars Trilogy!) Unfortunately, and beyond whether or not there is an available format to screen from (70mm, 35mm, 4K or 2DCP, digital et al), there must be valid theatrical screening rights for us and indeed any cinema, society or organiser of a public screening to show a film.

Theatrical rights will usually have a termed option (most often five years) and then, once those rights expire it’s a matter for legal negotiation between rights holders and potential distributors as to whether or not they wish to renew. If not the doors are open for another party to try to obtain the rights, which come at multi-thousand (sometimes in the tens of thousand) dollar prices. Even after rights are purchased, the producer always gets around 50% of rentals earned. As you would expect with anything involving legal contracts, this can take considerable time and money to confirm. This is also why a film might have theatrical rights one year and then no longer have them the next. Returning briefly to Blade Runner, this is why we last screened it in 35mm in 2010 and since have been unable to screen it.

This is also the reason why we were so excited to finally be able to screen Labyrinth (1986)and soon The NeverEnding Story (1984) – Astor proprietor George Florence has been looking into rights for NES for around nine years and now, thanks to Park Circus, acting on our tip, now representing the film, we can finally screen it. And yes, we do still have our fingers crossed for The Dark Crystal (1982).

But back to Wednesday and why we had such a late change to our programming. Of course at the time of printing our calendar (both current and upcoming) we were unaware that the rights for Apocalypse Now: Redux might expire before our scheduled screenings. Once notified that the screening rights had expired and as such our screenings could not go ahead we had two concerns: 1) an expectant audience who ought to be able to trust our calendar and come see the films we’ve scheduled and advertised, and 2) the fate for the incredibly rare and stunning 35mm Technicolor IB film print [Ed's note: the technology that created this stunning film print no longer exists, so even IF someone wanted to, another print COULD NOT be made.]. Often what happens when rights expire is that film prints are junked (destroyed) but thankfully we can assure everyone that the Apocalypse Now: Redux print is safe and being held until new rights can be negotiated.

Even though we began the process of trying to sort out an agreement in time to let us at least be able to honour the screenings already booked, we received late notice Wednesday afternoon that the process could not be approved until the request was officially signed off on by the rights owners. Although we have made inroads and do both hope and believe we will have confirmed something in time for the June 12th screening later this year, we were unable at the last minute to receive the approval we thought we would be granted to screen Wednesday night.

We want you to know that it wasn’t for lack of trying that the screening of Apocalypse was replaced by Django Unchained (2012). We also want you to know that we’ll keep working on it from now until however long it takes to get the film back up on our big screen. Apocalypse Now: Redux has been an Astor staple for years and every calendar has a space for it. One of the most significant reasons for this is due to the rarity of the print, made with a now past process that, as mentioned, can never be replicated. But, even as much as we love the print, and admire the incredible technical process to create it, without an audience the print is just a physical object in a box. For Coppola’s vision and the Technicolor frames to mean anything, they need to be seen by an audience in the original intended theatrical environment. It is our undertaking to bring what we consider to be the most sensational viewing experiences to the big screen. Apocalypse Now: Redux is one of them and we fully intend to keep it on our calendars.

Written by Tara Judah for the Astor Theatre.

To keep updated with news about future screenings of Apocalypse Now: Redux and other Astor related screenings and giveaways, keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter accounts and subscribe to our weekly E-news via our website.

Andy Warhol Presents Paul Morrissey who presents Udo Kier who wants wirgins…

Monday February 4th (tonight) at the Astor Theatre is one of those rare occasions where we offer more than just movies, and an actual opportunity to know life. And, as you will learn if you come down here at 7.30pm, “To know life, first you must **** death in the gallbladder.” Yes, tonight we’re preparing for a fantasmagorically gory, kitsch, camp and over-honestly crazy celebration of 1970s American underground counter-culture. All in stunning, rare, 35mm film print glory!

Paul Morrissey met Andy Warhol in 1965 after he began making short films. His background had included a brief stint in the army and not so underground employment in insurance and social work before he took up the camera, but he was a clear artistic talent from the start and after his collaboration and distribution management on Warhol’s Chelsea Girls (1966), Imitation of Christ (1967) and Bike Boy (1967), Morrissey was ready for his first solo project: writer, director and producer on Lonesome Cowboy (1967). From here Morrissey turned his filmmaking intentions towards creating a new type of counter-culture within the American Underground that would come to be known as “trash aesthetics” matched with a camp-kitsch sensibility. This new style brought cinema a trilogy like no other; Flesh (1968), Trash (1970), Heat (1972). These films, and indeed everything branded by the Warhol Factory, made stars of its misfits – very much in the same way that John Waters was doing at the time in Baltimore with his own homegrown stars. Morrissey had an eye for fame and along with Joe Dallesandro whose pimply derriere will forever be immortalised on film, Morrrissey made Nico a star by adding her to the Factory’s rock ‘n’ roll group that would become iconic and influential, The Velvet Underground.

Following the underground success of his trilogy, Morrissey went on to make what are often still referred to as “Andy Warhol’s Dracula” and “Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein”, despite their both being decidedly Paul Morrissey films. Alternatively titled Blood For Dracula (1974) and Flesh For Frankenstein (1973), Morrissey’s somewhat ‘loose’ interpretation of Bram Stoker’s and Mary Shelley’s greats became cult triumphs that blended camp and kitsch sensibilities with gore and trash aesthetics and a linear, character driven narrative to achieve a type of pop-cult cinema. Where Warhol’s Blow Job and Chelsea Girls today find themselves projected onto white walls in modern art galleries, Morrissey’s films still find themselves occasionally clearing cobwebs and re-presented up on the big screen. With two stunning, rare and deliciously glorious 35mm film prints, we take great pleasure in presenting two of the “Factory’s” greatest tonight onscreen: Paul Morrissey’s Blood for Dracula and Flesh For Frankenstein.

And if you love all things counter-culture then you’re in for even more of a treat as, thanks to our good friends at Shock Entertainment, we have posters and DVD copies of the cult lover’s documentary American Grindhouse to giveaway! All you have to do to be in with a chance to win is turn up, get gory, experience a formal introduction to Udo Kier, and even learn a little something by really letting life **** you in the gallbladder.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an Astor favourite and an Astor staple. Reflecting on its many screenings and indeed the very many wonderful and creative outfits that grace our stage whenever we show it, we thought it was time to re-publish three very enthusiastic reviews from Melbourne based film critics Gerard Elson, Paul Nelson, and Tara Judah. Each of these reviews originally appeared in an edition of our E-newsletter and are republished here with permission from the authors. And for the uninitiated we’ve also included a few pics from a recent screening – so now you know what to expect!

“It’s not easy having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache.” So laments Dr Frank-N-Furter—‘A Scientist’—in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Frank’s words might best be applied to New Year’s Eve; that last, desperate glom to reclaim the year that was in the name of fun and ring in a new annum with a grin. Drinks flow freely. Music blares. But it’s not easy having a good time when we know that, come tomorrow, it’s all certain to make our heads ache…

An occasion to give yourself over to absolute pleasure: with a deviant mob of fellow mascara-smeared miscreants. For like a bodacious bod in a lace-up corset, barely contained by The Astor’s super-sized screen will be the cult movie: The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The path it’s strutted to cult glory is the stuff of legend: the dismal first showings, the mystified critics, the evasion by the general public… followed some two years later by the mounting momentum of participatory “midnight movie” screenings, in which the audience were invited—nay, expected! —to kick up their high heels and join in the revelry with the sex-fired space bacchants on-screen. Thirty-five years later and Rocky Horror still stands, hand on hip, legs fishnetted and lipsticked lips puckered, as the longest running film in cinema history. 20th Century Fox have never yet lapsed the film’s initial release. Hell, if it ain’t broke…

And Rocky Horror ain’t broke. Far from it. It’s every bit as subversive, all-embracing and resplendently demented as it must have seemed in 1975. And the songs, from the manic dance hall rock ‘n’ roll of ‘The Time Warp’ to the insouciant swagger of ‘Sweet Transvestite’ (Tim Curry here is no less than iconic), still inspire open-lunged sing-along abandon.

So this New Year’s Eve, let The Astor take you on a strange journey with The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Don’t just watch it. Be it.

Reviewed by Gerard Elson (@gerardelson)

From the 20th Century Fox fanfare performed in Richard Hartley’s soon-to-be-unmistakable piano style; followed by Patricia Quinn’s cherry red lips flying at you, you know you’re in for something different. Even after three and a half decades, it feels like a marvellous psychotropic trip to another world. It’s movie geek phantasmagoria, an impassioned plea for tolerance, and a raucous celebration of letting one’s freak flag fly all rolled into one. Ladies and Gentlemen: there is only one Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) are all-American kids who spring a flat tyre on a rainy night, sending them scurrying to the nearest house for a phone. Unfortunately (or most fortunately), the nearest house is a gothic castle, playing host to a shindig for “Transylvanians”, thrown by cross-dressing mad scientist Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry), and catered by all-too-intimate brother/sister servant pair Riff Raff (Richard O’Brien, also the co-writer/lyricist) and Magenta (Patricia Quinn). Despite Brad and Janet’s fearful trepidation, Frank is delighted to host them, as he’s about to unveil his latest feat of genius. See, he’s been making a man… with blond hair and a tan…

Directed and co-adapted by Australian Jim Sharman, the film is a pure, unhinged, hedonistic blast, inspired by sci-fi B-pictures and Busby Berkeley musicals, bursting with insanely catchy songs and endlessly quotable dialogue. The uniformly terrific cast (most reprising the roles they originated on stage) surrender to the material with wonderful reckless abandon, but nobody makes as seismic an impression as Curry, whose booming voice, sly charisma and dramatic physicality command every scene he’s even peripherally involved in.

One of the first films (and the only Hollywood studio film) to be adopted by the original NYC “midnight movie” crowd of the mid-1970s, Rocky Horror’s celebration of sexual freedom and kinky joie de vivre continues to resonate powerfully with audiences today, as well as its then-unique references to genre movies past, now de rigueur. Give yourself over to absolute pleasure – see it!

Reviewed by Paul Nelson (@mrpaulnelson)

Pull up your fishnets and tighten your corsets: it’s time to do the Time Warp again! This Friday we take you back to 1975 with one of the original five films responsible for the “Midnight Movie” phenomenon: that’s right folks, returning to Melbourne’s glorious Astor Theatre is writer/actor Richard O’Brien and director Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Adapted for the screen from O’Brien’s original stage musical: The Rocky Horror Show (1973), the film version attracted such an immense cult audience that the stage-show has since been, almost endlessly, revived – and not just in the UK. Exceeding by far the meagre expectations O’Brien had of his warped, B-grade, trans-sexually charged sci-fi musical mayhem, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is said to hold the record for the longest running theatrical release in film history. Still showing in quality theatres around the world, Rocky Horror has never been withdrawn from its original release, putting it at a now thirty-seven year run – and counting!

When “Brad Majors – A Hero” (Barry Bostwick) and “Janet Weiss – A Heroine” (Susan Sarandon) – a cute couple and straight squares – break down on a cold, wet November’s eve, they have no choice but to head to a nearby castle in search of a phone to call for help. But the unwitting couple stumble upon the residence of “Dr Frank-N-Furter – A Scientist” (Tim Curry) who appears to be hosting an Annual Transylvanian Convention, at which he is unveiling his latest “creation”: Rocky Horror (a “real, live” man). With some of the most sensational musical numbers ever to exist, including; “Sweet Transvestite”, “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” and, of course, “The Time Warp”; The Rocky Horror Picture Show is not just a film- it’s an experience, which is why audiences have been donning the get-up to attend screenings wherever they can for what’s now three and a half decades.

With costumes, cast, music and mise-en-scene that many probably really would die for, Friday night’s screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a must attend event for anyone who hasn’t seen it – and also for anyone who has. Tim Curry in fishnets, heels, red lippy and a corset? Yes please!

Reviewed by Tara Judah (@midnightmovies)

Is Australia On Screen Commercially Viable?

Here at the Astor we welcome programming suggestions from you, our audience. The reason we do this is because we do actually want to present films you want to see. It sounds simple enough, but in fact the process involves more than just picking two films that make a good double feature and placing them somewhere on our iconic calendar.

The first three questions we have to ask before programming anything are:

1) Does the film have valid, theatrical screening rights? Just because a film has been shown on TV or has a DVD release, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s available for theatrical exhibition.

2) Is there an available format for theatrical presentation? Where once this was limited to 35mm or 70mm film prints we do now have wider options for presenting repertory titles if they are available digitally – most commonly as 2K or 4K DCPs (Digital Cinema Package) and often, but not always, upon announcement of a studio re-release.

3) What other title does the distributor have an available format and valid rights for that will work in a double feature? Double features require both films come from the same distributor (this is because a percentage of the takings are then returned to the distributor as box office returns).

But, as the Astor is still presently a commercial business we aren’t eligible for any funding which means we do also have to take into consideration the commercial viability of screening each film. It’s an unfortunate reality and certainly we’d love to program free from this constraint, but at the end of the day we have to take at least enough money to keep our front doors open. As much as we’d love to, we just can’t afford to freight rare 35mm and 70mm film prints half way across the world for a single screening. An average screening just couldn’t cover those kinds of costs which makes screening certain titles prohibitive.

Bearing these things in mind, we still try to accommodate requests when and where we can.

But why are we telling you this? The reason is because we want to let you know why some films that meet the aforementioned criteria don’t always screen, or maybe do so only once. The titles that screen only once and don’t return for a second screening do so because even though they might be films that have been continually requested, they find their way back to our big screen only to attract really small audiences of less than even 100 people – and unfortunately that means they’re not viable for repeat screenings.

Something we hear often is that we don’t have enough Australian content on the calendar. That aside from contemporary break out successes of Australian cinema such as Animal Kingdom, we just don’t show enough Australian film. Well, we took your advice and beyond films such as Wake In Fright, Snowtown, The Hunter, The Tall Man, Mad Bastards, Sleeping Beauty and of course Animal Kingdom, we decided to put on some old favourites of Australian cinema, and, after sourcing what was available, came up with ten titles over five consecutive Monday nights showcasing a mixture of popular and cult, genre, Australian films. These included Mad Dog Morgan, Stone, Mad Max, Mad Max 2, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, Dimboola, Puberty Blues, The FJ Holden, The Picture Show Man and The Lighthorsemen.

Unfortunately, despite the requests for Australian film, very few people actually attended this season of explicitly Australian film. The first two nights featuring films with greater cult followings – and of course Mad Max and Mad Max 2 being the most popular- were attended well enough to make it worth while screening the films. The following three sessions however just weren’t very successful at all, and with less than a hundred people turning up to see something, it’s just not viable for us to put it on.

So what does this mean? Is it just a case of mass coincidences that for the past few Monday nights all the people who said they’d wanted to see these films were unable to attend? Or is it that Australians want to support Australian cinema in theory but not in practice? And is there a similar level of inactivity at play when it comes to supporting Australian cinemas? We know you love the Astor and we know you love Australian film, but if the past three Monday nights are anything to go by then there’s something amiss. Perhaps there is a level of complacency at play? The Astor is here and perhaps many assume we will always be here. Maybe you like to know we’re here, but you don’t necessarily attend regularly for extraneous reasons. And perhaps the same can be said for public exhibition of Australian film. Maybe you want to know that it’s out there, that someone is screening it, but you don’t or can’t necessarily attend when it screens. Well, much like any independent anything, if you don’t actively support it, it will unfortunately, eventually, just cease to exist.

We aren’t trying to chastise anyone for not attending, but do want to know why often requested content doesn’t always live up to its level of request. If people don’t come to the Astor to see films then we can’t keep showing them. And if there’s no physical support for the exhibition of Australian films in Australian cinemas then Australian cinemas will stop showing them. If you want to know why there’s less Australian content in Australian cinemas than you think there ought to be, well, this could be one reason why.

True, there are more American than Australian titles on any given Astor calendar. And indeed in almost any cinema this weighting is present. And sure, this is partially due to the disproportionate quantity of US titles locally distributed versus other countries’ titles locally distributed, as well as of course the size and general output of the Australian film industry comparatively to a major studio driven film industry like Hollywood. But it might also be because not enough people constitute an Australian audience actively watching Australian films.

If you want to see Australian films on the big screen then please do more than tell us you want to see them – come and see them. Cinema isn’t just a passive arena, it’s a living thing and if you want it to survive in all its diverse glory then you have to take part!

Written by Tara Judah for The Astor Theatre.

Too many to mention…

As New Year’s Eve approaches and we prepare ourselves for the most raucous night of the year – yep, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, now in 2K with 5.1 Surround Sound for an even more boisterous and blisteringly good time – we thought we’d take a look back over the year and some its highlights. In order to make sure this isn’t just one person’s subjective view of the year, we’ve pulled together a varied list of highlights as enthusiastically told by some of the Astor’s staff and regular E-news contributors. We welcome your input and would love to hear what your own personal Astor highlight was this year so please do let us know in the comments section below!

From our New York arm of the Astor (yes it’s true we do have an ex-pat devotee who tirelessly puts together our E-news and designs all our artwork all the way from NYC), Andy cites the arrival of our Barco 32B 4K digital projection plant and the re-release of Taxi Driver in 4K, “I’d say Taxi Driver – the debut of the new 4K projection system, further cementing the Astor as the home of the finest movie presentation in Australia.” And we have consensus from the Bio Box where Kaz says, “My favourite was the 4K re-release of Taxi Driver because it’s such a great film and seeing at that quality was amazing!” and resident ticket seller Tara agrees too, “Hearing Bernard Herrmann’s score – previously only ever in mono – in 5.1 surround sound was the most wonderful experience I’ve had all year.” Doesn’t hurt that the film itself is brilliant too.

But as we soon learned, even 2K looks amazing on our Barco 4K and so whilst TD didn’t take out number one spot for everyone, it did often get a honourable mention. From our new web designer (and we really do have to say an enormous thanks here too to Tyson who helped us put together a wonderful new website that far outshines the old one – in fact, I’d probably cite our new website as another of my greatest Astor highlights this year!), “I think my favourite was the Ghostbusters re-release, but the Taxi Driver in 4K was pretty awesome too!”

But amidst all the love for our new digital awesomeness it’s also true that we are still the home of film – both 35mm and 70mm. From the FOH Jake found a classic highlight in the charms and wit of Billy Wilder, “Some Like it Hot + The Apartment. Hadn’t seen them before; masterpieces!” And equally loved are the big screen staples we show regularly – both due to demand and also, in some instances, to ensure the prints won’t be thrown away. Regular E-news contributor Dave knows that the only way to see these films is as intended, “any screening of Apocalypse Now, Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz is something special. Three films that are best seen on the big screen.”

2011 also saw a few marathon screenings with the complete Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 & Pt 2 screened as a double bill and there were three popular trilogies; all three Back to the Future films which screened in an epic afternoon to evening event to help raise money for Parkinson’s Victoria (plus we actually had the DeLorean at the theatre!), Halloween was another special trilogy event with Night, Dawn and Day of the Dead screening to an audience who had just seen a Zombie playing a mandolin in the candy bar foyer(!), and of course, even though the extended versions were too long to run on this occasion (we will screen them at some time in the future), there was The Lord of the Rings. FOH Shift Supervisor Les sites the latter as his highlight, “For me the Lord of the Rings marathon in July. I really was surprised by the eclectic audience that attended that day and it would be amazing to put together something similar for the forthcoming movie of the hobbit in 2012.” Indeed it would be and I don’t doubt we will!

Something we pride ourselves on at the Astor is a unique and varied style of programming that caters to a wide ranging audience. Certainly we know not everything will be to everyone’s tastes, but another joy of the arrival of our digital projector has been the much wider range of films available to us to present to you. With so many films no longer available on actual film (there are various reasons for this and they range from the only print in the world being available at a cost we can’t – with no government funding – cover, to the prints themselves having been – in my own opinion foolishly – thrown to the tip; this is called “junked”), digital has meant we were finally able to screen a hoard of films that wouldn’t otherwise have found their way to the big screen this past year, including Dario Argento’s Suspiria, John Waters’ Cry-Baby, Tarsem Singh’s The Fall, the Cairo Club presented special screening of Key Largo and E-news contributor Ben‘s favourite Metropolis. Some of these films may not have got an individual staff mention but we know from our audiences that there was some genuine love for these screenings in 2011.

We managed to fit in a fair few horror sessions on our most recent calendar and writer/FOTA member/Astor and horror film enthusiast Ben (we have a few of them!) cites the Fulci experience as his best, “In a year the gave us a legion of masterful resurrections it was a much loved and worn print of the legendary video nasty, Zombie (aka Zombie Flesh Eaters), that will sit amongst my most cherished moments. It was my 1st Italian horror film on the big screen. Nothing could prepare me for the towering joy of zombie versus shark, or the destruction of a glistening  eyeball by a monument of a splinter. Projected from a different era, I could almost smell the dust of the dead, & watching it with Fulci virgins & devotees alike as we all gasped & laughed in eager appreciation, it was a night I shall never forget.”

But with so much and so varied a program there is also sometimes the issue of being decisive and certainly it’s true that at least two people weren’t able to decide at all. The lovely Lenny whose found her way from FOH to ticket box this year gave us five options, “Very difficult to pin 1 movie / event down….. Here are my favourite 5; 1) Silent Film Festival – Chicago, the Astor is the best place to see silent films – like a journey back in time to the start of cinema. With live music it is such a treat! 2) Hamlet, Simply awe-inspiring! A must see at the Astor with 70 mm print! 3) Cinema Fiasco’s Sheba Baby, Perfectly hilariously groovy!
4) In A Better World, and 5) 13 Assassins, bring on foreign films, both fabulously epic; one emotionally and one violently and morally.” All great picks and of course the writer of this piece has a special spot for Hamlet in 70mm even if I didn’t see it at the Astor this year. Hamlet‘s not only the first film I ever saw at the Astor though, it’s also an example of a film print saved by the Astor’s awesome George Florence. Marked to be junked some years ago, George stepped in, contacted Kenneth Branagh directly and told him what was about to happen to that glorious 70mm film print with six-track magnetic sound. Kenneth was of course appalled and directed the studio to hand over the print to the Astor to continue to screen forever more. So thank film for George or we wouldn’t have the opportunity to include such a magnificent film and film print on this fast becoming lengthy list of bests!

Also indecisive when it comes to selecting just one highlight, E-news and blog contributor, FOTA member and regular supporter of the Astor Mark gave us a great list that is impossible to select just something from. So, and as the person who I suspect has actually attended the most screenings of any of our attendees for 2011, we’re going to list them all: “The Graduate/Lenny. The former has long been a favourite and the latter was a first-timer for me that really blew me away–it was a privilege to witness it in its original format on the big screen. Rollerball/Westworld. Two of my favourite futuristic films, always wonderful to see this ideally matched pair revived at the cinema. Lawrence of Arabia (even in 35mm this was an amazing experience and I kept coming back for more), 2001 (always a stunning experience in 70mm–nowhere else in Australia shows this classic sci-fi movie in this format, it gets better each time I see it), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (one of my favourite Clint Eastwood movies and the extended footage version makes a great film even greater, in fact, all of the Sergio Leone epics, including Once Upon a Time in the West and A Fistful of Dynamite), Das Boot, magnificent in 70mm, a technical marvel, an all together different view of the German military in WW2, Ben-Hur, simply demands to be witnessed on the big screen, Amadeus, semi-fictional period piece deserves praise for sheer amount of detail and care, not to mention its compelling story and the fact that it does not take everything too seriously. Honorable Mentions: Network, one of my favourite movies and one that I feel should be seen by as many people as possible [ed's note - this screened as part of a private hire not a regular screening, for Mark's birthday earlier in the year], The Red Shoes, simply because I am starting to lose count of how many times I have seen this at the Astor and I only first saw it just under three years ago. You just know there are others but I’d be here typing forever otherwise.”

Speaking of private hires – which I mentioned briefly above – we’ve had some wonderful events this year that were “off-calendar” so to speak, including premiere screenings of Face to Face, Twice: The Cam Sinclair Story and Reservoir Cats. And from the Bio Box we also get a favourite non-film event, Alex and Allyson Grey. Also from the Bio Box George cites TD as a highlight and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey (if you didn’t already know, it’s his favourite film and the 70mm print is another one he acquired himself!)

Finally, we have two mentions for the film that screened back in 1982 when George first took over the lease at the Astor Theatre: the original 1933 King Kong. For anyone who missed the wonderful milestone event in April, The Astor celebrated its 75th anniversary with a special screening of this film. Gerard who contributes to our E-news and also wrote the excellent extended review we had available at the event says, “I think it has to be Kong/the 75th celebration for me. As an animation enthusiast, the film has been a wellspring of fascination for me since childhood, yet I’d never seen it projected. The Astor’s grand deco milieu – and the post-film company – ensured the experience was well worth the wait!” Owen in FOH agrees, “My favourite of 2011 was seeing the original King Kong for the Astor’s 75th.”

Well folks, there are so many examples that didn’t quite make the list and of course not every staff member managed to get their picks in in time for this post (a certain cat who shall remain nameless failed to email me in time…) which goes some way to explaining just how awesome this year has been for us. But of course, we want to know what your highlights are too – the whole point of this is to share our experiences and with even more awesome films and events on the way for 2012 we can’t wait to share yet another year of wonderful experiences with you!

Comments collected and arranged by Tara Judah for the Astor Theatre.

HOW TO SURVIVE OUR ROMERO DEAD TRILOGY – (these points might also be useful in the event of a zombie apocalypse, or they might not.)

1. BRING A BLANKET

Sure, we have heating in the auditorium but you’re going to be sitting through THREE zombie films, surrounded by living beings who claim they’re human but are pretending to be the titled dead – which in a round about way means they are actually UNDEAD. Now we can’t claim for sure that the undead will bring the cold dank atmosphere of six feet under into the auditorium, but why take the chance?

2. DRESS TO IMPRESS

But also to sit. It might sound silly but even if you’re entering our Best-Dressed Undead competition (and we do have some pretty cool prizes to give away) you’ll still want to be comfortable. You are going to sit through three films and as much as we love our original 1936 seats we are aware that one or two of them (ahem) don’t quite equal the royal treatment for your behind. So make sure your get up is comfy enough to withstand the evening. And make sure you get up and walk about in search of brains during the scheduled intervals.

3. BRING A CAMERA

Or a camera phone. Or an Etch-a-Sketch. In addition to you and your friends looking the part we are planning to have a Zombie Mandolin Player – IN A CAGE – performing for your entertainment in the upstairs foyer. This is the kind of weird and wonderful rare opportunity you’ll want to describe to all your friends and family and trust us, it’s always easier with visual aids.

4. BUY SNACKS AT THE CANDY BAR

Whilst we won’t have brains for sale (our apologies but even at cost price they’re just a little too high for our standard retail prices and besides, they make an almighty mess. Squishy. Ewwww.), we will have our regular array of candy bar items in stock as well as some more substantial food to satiate those hunger pangs brought on by the image of the undead munching on the living. There will be sandwiches (Ham & Pickle, Chicken, Lettuce & Mayo, and Cheese, Salad & Pickle), as well as sausage rolls and some vegetarian pastries (Potato Burekas, Pumpkin Burekas and Spinach and Ricotta Swirls). You aren’t allowed to bring outside food or drink into our auditorium and you wouldn’t want to anyway because that doesn’t help us stay in business. Plus we sell a fine selection of booze to fill all your drunken undead desires.

5. TREAT THE VENUE WITH RESPECT

We know you’ll do this but we have to say it. As you know, we’re a grand old place and we’d like to keep it that way. We do our best to make sure the standard here is as high as we can get it (despite there being some issues of disrepair we are actually very proactive about keeping our standards up, unfortunately our landlord doesn’t necessarily share in our vision of repaired plaster work and re-painted walls), so all we ask is that you leave the venue just as you found it; you might be undead but there’s no need to be untidy.

6. REMEMBER YOU’RE IN A PUBLIC SPACE

We all love to get involved and we encourage you to enjoy the atmosphere and all that it allows. But please do remember that this is a public space where other people have also paid to attend in order to enjoy themselves. This means no mobile phones (talking, texting and otherwise; including checking the time, we don’t like to see mobile phone lights in the auditorium), no talking, swearing or other odd activities that will be disconcerting to your fellow undead and of course just generally being courteous to others while the movies are playing.

7. FINALLY, ENJOY!

We’ve recommended a bunch of relatively straight forward things to help your zombie marathon along but the very most important thing of all is of course to enjoy the evening. After all, that’s the entire reason we put it on. Have fun, make friends, watch fine films and bask in the atmosphere of the most awesome cinema in town. That’s a total no-brainer.

Our Romero Dead Trilogy takes place on Sunday October 30. Doors open at 5pm and our Zombie Mandolin Player in a Cage starts pre-show at 5.30pm. Night of the Living Dead 6pm, Dawn of the Dead 7.45pm, Day of the Dead 10pm. Prices are: $15/$13 for one film, $25/$22 for two and $30/$27 for all three. Tickets available on the door.

Written by Tara Judah for The Astor Theatre.

THIS FILTHY WORLD IS FULL OF DIVINE TRASH

“I believe life is nothing if you’re not obsessed. I only think terrible thoughts, I do not live them. Thank God I am not my films. If audiences can laugh at my twisted ideas, what’s the great harm? I had a goal in life — I wanted to make the trashiest motion pictures in cinema history. Thanks so much for allowing me to get away with it.”
John Waters

As many of you devoted juvenile deliquents might be aware, the proverbial Pope of Trash (so-coined by one William S Burroughs) is leaving Baltimore for the next best saturation of suburbanality, yep, here in our very own land of Oz. The Pope’s visit is a much anticipated one as attendees can expect to hear about his influences, fascination with true crime, his own films and much more to do with THIS FILTHY WORLD in which we live.

The Tour:

Drawing on some of the content from his most recent book, Role Models, Waters will be touring the country, bringing his vaudevillian content to Perth, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and of course, Melbourne. His Melbourne tour takes place on Saturday October 29 at the Melbourne Recital Centre.

The Retrospective Line-up:

Here at the Astor, we thought such an incredible opportunity to see the Pope in person warranted a pre-tour theatrical return of at least some of his impressive, exploitative, and hilarious oeuvre. So, we’ve put together, for your viewing pleasure, an entire weekend of the most tasteful cinematic trash we could find! If however you don’t so happen to live in Melbourne, fret not, there are similar opportunities in Adelaide and Sydney thanks to Adele Hann (Adelaide Film Festival) and Maggie Gerrand (MG Presents). If you’re in Adelaide, head to the Mercury Cinema and if you’re in Sydney, head to the Opera House to catch their Double Features From Hell film festival. But back to what’s here in Melbourne at Australia’s iconic, last standing, single screen, repertory cinema, THE ASTOR THEATRE.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 14, 7.30pm: FEMALE TROUBLE & POLYESTER double feature.

Female Trouble (1974), 35mm print, rated R, 95 mins: One of the things we should all be worried about is juvenile delinquency. When Dawn Davenport (Divine) doesn’t get the cha-cha heels she wanted for Christmas, she assaults her mother, runs away from home, becomes a single mother to a child born of rape, and flits between go-go dancer, model, petty criminal and murderer as she becomes a beauty experiment at the Lipstick Beauty Salon. Here, owners Donald and Donna Dasher (David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pearce) test Jean Genet’s theory that crime equals beauty. Then there are humans kept in bird cages, fatal facial peels, the injecting of liquid eyeliner… Undoubtedly one of the most hilarious examinations of reactionary social politics ever made, this early Waters work is riotous good fun and quite sincerely questions the perils of a celebrity culture before it was even really considered a thing.

Polyester (1981), 35mm print, rated M, 86 mins: The first film to bring Odorama (or Smell-o-vision) to the big screen, Polyester marks Waters’ move from the underground into the mainstream – well, the subversive underground mainstream anyway. Divine dons her finest in suburban housewife get-up in her too wonderful for words performance as the picture of middle American moms. Making fun of all-American, heteronormative family values, Waters exposes the artifice of such stifling societal constructs with unmatched hilarity and sass. As synthetic as the title suggests, Polyester unearths everything that is ugly about being “normal” and “average” in the most stupendously kitsch, camp and endearing way.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 15, 7.30pm: PINK FLAMINGOS & A DIRTY SHAME double feature.

Pink Flamingos (1972), 35mm print, rated R, 110 mins: This is the film with that famous scene that still has people looking up the term “coprophagia”. If you don’t know what that means then don’t blame us when you find out! Divine stars alongside or perhaps against Raymond and Connie Marble (David Lochary and Mink Stole) in an incredible underground tabloid like pageant for the trashy sought after title of “The Filthiest Person Alive”. This is one of THE defining films of American Underground cinema and the most iconic of Waters’ work that helped him win the title “Pope of Trash”.

A Dirty Shame (2004), 35mm print, rated R, 89 mins: You’re either a neuter or a pervert in this much later release in Waters’ filmography. Neuters are residents in Harford Road who can’t stand carnal knowledge and consider anyone who can a pervert. But when a series of concussions befall some of Harford Road’s neuters, a fully-fledged sex crazed soft-core public parade of shame ensues. There is also a rather ambitious search to discover the ultimate sex act. Possibly the most ludicrous story included in our mini fest, your response to A Dirty Shame will undoubtedly indicate to which of the two camps you belong!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 16, 2pm: HAIRSPRAY single feature, 5pm: CRY-BABY single feature, and 8pm: DIVINE TRASH single feature.

Hairspray (1988), digital presentation, rated PG, 90 mins: Now a major Broadway musical and remade for the masses, the most mainstream of all of Waters’ films, and the only one that is truly “family friendly”, Hairspray is all about counter culture in the ’60s and the increasing efforts of the most unlikely souls to out the upper classes for their negative views towards progressive issues such as racial integration, as well, of course, as being all about youths enjoying themselves and wearing their hair however they darn well please.

Cry-Baby (1990), digital presentation, rated M, 85 mins: Wade “Cry Baby” Walker is a sworn Drape (Greaser) and Allison Vernon-Williams a model Square. So when the unlikely two fall in love the entire town of Baltimore is thrown into an immediate state of uproar. Sound familiar? That’s because Cry-Baby is a parody that focuses its attentions on hit teen musical Grease. Another of Waters’ films to find its adapted way to Broadway, Cry-Baby is commercial counter-culture at its best. Only Waters could have so fantastic a flirtation with wholesome family fun whilst blatantly stating that there’s nothing more disgusting than wholesome family fun.

Divine Trash (1998), digital presentation, rated R, 97 mins: Could there be a more perfect title for a documentary about John Waters? Quite simply, no. Yeager’s documentary intercuts interviews and stock footage to celebrate and examine his incredible and controversial work. Divine Trash will be introduced by comedy film duo Lee Zachariah and Shannon Marinko, hosts of The Bazura Project, ABC 2′s newest six-part comedy, entertainment series about Australia’s number one, non sports-related past time: the movies. (Coming to ABC 2 Thursday September 29, 9pm. Watch their opening title sequence here.)

* NB: each session will also feature a welcome video recording by John Waters!

The Giveaways:

Friday October 14: Check under your seat to see if you’ve won a copy of John Waters’ latest book Role Models. 

Saturday October 15: DIVINE look-a-like contest. The best Divine in the house will win a double pass to see John Waters live at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Saturday October 29. Special prizes for second and third place.

Sunday October 16: During our special intro to Steven Yeager’s documentary Divine Trash, with The Bazura Project hosts Lee Zachariah and Shannon Marinko, we’ll be giving away ANOTHER double pass to see John Waters live at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Saturday October 29. So brush up on your Waters’ trivia!

The result:

A wicked Waters weekend. Be there or be square. Ewwwww.

Written by Tara Judah for The Astor Theatre. The Astor Theatre would like to thank Maggie Gerrand, The Adelaide Film Festival, The Mercury Cinema, The Arc Cinema, Roadshow Entertainment, Hollywood Classics, Yaman Films, ABC 2 and The Bazura Project.

Two-Lane Blacktop & Zabriskie Point

Tonight’s double bill is an existential journey through the screen – our regular E-news reviewer and passionate film aficionado Mark Vanselow gives us the low-down:
TWO-LANE BLACKTOP
Forty years ago, audiences might not have known what to make of Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). It is an altogether different type of road movie, an automobile film for the arthouse set. Two-Lane Blacktop has a mesmerising slow burn quality, little action and little story. Automobile buff, The Driver (James Taylor) accompanied by The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson) races against GTO (Warren Oates) across the United Sates as they compete for the ultimate prize: pink slips (legal ownership of the other’s vehicle). For those of you who have seen it once, Monte Hellman’s cult favourite improves the second time you see it. Two-Lane Blacktop is presented in a Brand New 35mm Print, on the big screen—experience it the way it was intended for audiences!
ZABRISKIE POINT
Another film ahead of its time was Zabriskie Point (1970) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. An outsider’s view of America (Antonioni was an Italian native), Zabriskie Point is an effective critique of crass commercialism and unchallenged bourgeois values. Anyone who questions mindless consumerism will probably relate to this film—it has its share of cryptic symbolism, but its social commentary still shines through. Those who don’t question the excesses of capitalism probably need to see this film more desperately than those who already “get it”. It is also an amazing film to see on the big screen: Antonioni really has created some memorable visuals here.