Coppola post-Apocalypse Now

dracula is def not "good" but still awesome

The movie begins with Karen Powell (Diane Lane) going into labor during a Halloween party and being rushed to the hospital by her husband, Brian (Brian Kerwin), and their friends. Although the delivery is successful, the baby is premature, born after only ten weeks of pregnancy, and is diagnosed with an exaggerated form of Werner syndrome (an aging disease) as stated by Dr. Benfante (Allan Rich) and Dr. Lin (Keone Young). According to them, as this very rare autosomal recessive disorder progresses, Jack Powell will age at a rate four times faster than normal children due to his internal clock that seems to be developing faster.

Ten years later, Jack (Robin Williams) is next seen as a 10-year-old boy in the body of a 40-year-old man, with a group of four boys telling possible stories of a "monstrosity" of a boy their age that cannot go to school. He scares them away by dipping a fake eye into slime and throwing it at them from his window. He is extremely childish as a consequence of his secluded life. He has only had contact with his parents and tutor, Lawrence Woodruff (Bill Cosby), who introduces the idea that he should go to public school. His parents initially balk at the idea of their son going there because he could be emotionally hurt.

When he first attends school, he is exploited by the other kids to win at basketball against bullies, and eventually to get adult magazines and other such items. As time goes by, he is accepted by them, beginning with Louis, as they discover that they like him. He attempts to be normal there, for example, when he deals with his first crush and heartbreak, and the relationship with his teacher, Miss Marquez (Jennifer Lopez). When he goes through a fall while attempting to leave school, he is rushed over to the hospital, where his doctor explains that he had suffered a shocking severe strain and also because of his Werner Syndrome condition, his internal clock is starting to run out. Realizing the dangers it might entail for his health, his parents decide to withdraw him from school, which upsets him.

He sneaks out of the house and goes to a bar where he gets drunk. He gets into a fight with an angry man (Edward Lynch) and gets arrested. Yet he is bailed out by Dolores, Louis' mother (Fran Drescher). When he returns home, he locks himself in his room and doesn't go out for weeks. His mother speculates that perhaps he realized the fragility of his life and is now scared of facing the outside world again. He also doubts the need to studying as he realizes that he wouldn't have the time to use any of the knowledge.

Meanwhile, his friends keep coming to his house, hoping that he would come out and play, but he refuses. Finally, Louis has an idea: he brings the entire class to Jack's house as they take turns yelling "Can Jack come out and play?" and participate in various games and fun activities right in front of the house. The next day he decides to go back to school.

Some years later, an elderly looking Jack and his four best friends are at their high school graduation. He delivers the valedictory speech, in which he reminds his classmates that life is short, and urges them to "make your life spectacular", as the five drive down the road and into their future lives.

Some years later, an elderly looking Jack and his four best friends are at their high school graduation. He delivers the valedictory speech, in which he reminds his classmates that life is short, and urges them to "seize the day", as the five drive down the road and into their future lives.

bleurgh

wait, wouldn't his body think it was like 180 years old by the time he graduated from high school

lol Jack.

Despite my love for Gary O, I don't think I've ever actually seen Dracula.

lol I can't read, never mind

Jack: Mom, am I a giant?

dracula is def not "good" but still awesome

^^^otm there's a lot of enjoyable things about it but it is just ridiculous and doesn't work on a basic level. I always lol at the old-school overlay of Oldman's eyes watching them on the train through the countryside or whatever

xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf0m_YmQSOA

godfather 3 might actually be the /best/ movie here

I saw "The Cotton Club" once about a bazillion years ago but liked it at the time

Continuity: Jack tells his class that his birthday is on September 12, but his parents were at a Halloween party the night he was born.

godfather 3 is close to being in the same 'bad but awesome' category as dracula - many lols to be found in that movie. i watched an interview with robert duvall last year where they asked if he regretted not doing part 3, and he was just like "heh. no."

i totally love coppola's dracula movie and i hope it smokes all the other shit on this poll

Coppola has stated that the films he made during the rest of the 1980s and most of the 1990s, such as The Outsiders, The Cotton Club, The Godfather, Part III, Jack and The Rainmaker, were done to pay off the debts incurred by the production of One from the Heart.

lol

one of the AV Club doofs (Tobias?) repped hard for One from the Heart; I really want to see it...

it seems kind of obvious that he has no interest in the medium and hasn't for some time (unlike Scorcese)

Not a lover of Tetro, but give me the "interest in the medium" it displays over Shutter Island's any day.

OMG that video clip. Jack would be a spectacular movie if an old man with a hands-free mic introduced every scene.

it's... interesting. really pretty and unique looking but not very engaging

*I use the term 'doof' affectionately of course...

I haven't seen Shutter Island and don't plan to

no interest in the medium?

lol

no interest in Lenny D

I think I've pretty much regretted watching every movie I've seen with him in it

you regretted "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?"?

(lol)

did we ever find out what was eating him?

It wasn't the obese mom?

top guesses:

rodents infected with hantavirus
dennis cooper
the basic gnawing regrets of life

kate winslet

think you got that one reversed

hmm, would love to hear what peggy sue defenders like about it -- i found it pretty unwatchable.
out of the ones i've seen here, i'd probably vote for tucker or dracula? dracula just for the vibe, which is totally over the top but in a fun way.

outsiders and rumblefish r both straight classic looks into the heart of juvenile delinquency

btw the title is Bram Stoker's Dracula (which it's not)

btw the title shoulda been winoa ryder sexes creatures of the night

what do I like about Peggy Sue... pretty much every scene with Nicolas Cage in doowop greaser mode, his line readings are hilarious. I have a soft spot for Kathleen Turner as well. the time travel/paradox/"what if I had my life to live over?" was given some real emotional resonance. the greaser/beatnik guy.

I haven't seen it in a long time, maybe it's clunkier than I remember.

xp

i remember my family attempted to take in a viewing of peggy sue gets married but it was sold out, dont think i ever saw it

this week in fascinating francis ford coppola stories!

yeah, i dunno, cage seems to verging in on something great in that movie, but ends up being kind of terrible imo. sort of a weird, risky performance i guess, but ...

the greaser/beatnik guy

lol

What was that character's name? I wasn't saying that was my choice last night btw. I haven't seen this in at least 15 years. I just feel like I watched it a lot when I was a kid and remember it being really really strange.

yeah it was on TV a LOT for some reason in the mid-90s?

(btw since we're sharing important coppola stories, was just in sonoma last weekend and considered going to his winery, but didn't)

good thing, since his winery is in Napa

nope in sonoma. drove right past it.

the one scene that really sticks with me is the one in the basement where Peggy is telling Nic Cage that he's never gonna make it as a singer and he should be more realistic and whatever and he's just not having any of it/cannot take the blow to his ego (afore-ref'd "I've got the TEETH! I've got the HAIR!" line) - it's just so strange and sad. I react to the scene in Freaks and Geeks where Nick says he'll never be the guy on the drum riser, maybe if he's lucky he'll be the guy who pushes the button that makes the drum riser go up and down... something about that terrible despair of youthful naivete being crushed. I dunno, it gets me.

the time travel/paradox/"what if I had my life to live over?" was given some real emotional resonance

otm. a lot of these i haven't seen, but iirc The Rainmaker isn't terrible and Rumblefish is better than the Outsiders. it would prob come down between Rumblefish & Peggy Sue for me.

to expand on that I appreciate how the time travel thing isn't handled in a glib/gimmicky/silly way (a la say Terminator or Back to the Future) - instead it all hinges on Peggy trying to realize her desires about making things different but being ultimately unable to, she repeats the past because she can't help herself.

The Rainmaker has terrific performances by the supporting cast. Marred by Claire Danes, Matt Damon's distracting floppy hair, and Grisham's dumb Manichean plot dynamics.

the outsiders is not very good, but i don't think that's coppola's fault. the acting is so bad. he does a nice job matching sound to image iirc.