Rolling Obituary Thread: 2020

Great in Brazil as head of the contact tracers:

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

More Holm doing Pinter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Xw0QwbTVc

> just been watching him in The Borrowers.

my first thought was "Pod Clock!"

He was fantastic in Naked Lunch. "If you look carefully at my lips, you'll realize that I'm actually saying something else."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NhNeniXCM4

https://www.soultracks.com/story-larome-powers-dies

Larome Powers

He became a Southern Soul star late in life, but music was part of his existence forever. Today we say a sad goodbye to singer, songwriter and musician Larome Powers. He was 67.

Powers first made his mark as part of the Detroit soul music scene in the 70s, often working with legendary producer Don Davis. He continued his ascent working with artists such as Joe Tex and Millie Jackson, and became known as both a top notch soul music writer and musician.

Powers moved to the front as a performer in the new millennium, issuing three albums between 2003 and 2014

Zeev Sternhell, Israeli historian, 95. RIP.

So they posted a recording of the tribute to our departed friend: https://cjsw.com/program/a-tribute-to-allen-baekeland/episode/20200618/

joel schumacher, 80

Holy shit, and holy shit, I had no idea he was so old!

Nor I

this sucks

Well, he got his start in the '70s, didn't he? Doing stuff for Woody Allen and writing screenplays for "Car Wash" and "The Wiz?" He was making stuff like "D.C. Cab" in, like, the "Doctor Detroit" era.

Of all the films to go with, Variety apparently think his most notable is Batman & Robin.

Actually curious which of his movies people think of as good. I've seen about a dozen of Schumacher's movies and there's not one I'd willingly watch again. Tony Scott, on the other hand...

Some people who are not me rate The Lost Boys and Falling Down.

Loved Car Wash, though I probably haven't seen it in a couple of decades

i only saw the lost boys for the first time about a year ago and it is so so so so awesome

I like Falling Down and Phone Booth a lot. Haven't seen anything else

the lost boys, falling down, tigerland would be my picks. definitely a filmography with plenty of stinkers though.

the look of lost boys is great. Santa Cruz looks very fucking sinister

Schumacher was also an architecture buff, bought and (lovingly) restored a Frank Lloyd Wright compound in South Carolina called Auldbrass that I took a tour of many years ago.

Veronica Guerin and Tigerland were better than some of his bigger films

Tigerland is pretty good
And I love Lost Boys

the look of lost boys is great. Santa Cruz looks very fucking sinister

― Rik Waller-Bridge (jim in vancouver), Monday, June 22, 2020 12:21 PM (three minutes ago)

oilysaxguy.gif

Not much substance to it but Phone Booth is an enjoyable 80 odd minutes

Oh dang, it was movie producer Joel Silver that restored Auldbrass. Well, it's over to the "I Always Get Those Two Mixed Up" thread I go...

His most notable are indeed probably The Lost Boys (as Gen X kitsch; Flatliners probably fits this, too), Falling Down (as sort of pop agitprop) and Batman and Robin (for being terrible and looking terrible). I just recall at the time thinking he hit all the marks of a bad director, working with bad scripts and getting bad performances and making movies that looked bad and reacting to criticism with a knowing what-can-you-do? shrug. But of course in retrospect he's mostly just kind of hacky and tacky, like Michael Bay or something.

I watched The Lost Boys on our school trip to France when I was 11 and it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

Watched it again aged 25 or so and it was the cheeseiest thing I'd ever seen, and not in a good way.

Aged 41 maybe should give it another chance? Not sure.

That Cry Little Sister song is good anyway.

I loved The Lost Boys as a kid, and still liked it when I last revisited it about a decade ago (and yes, I owned the soundtrack). Beyond that, his filmography is hot garbage.

Saddened to learn of the passing of Joel Schumacher, one of the most engaging people I've known. I first met him on the set of FLATLINERS, where he happily told me who was sleeping with whom among his cast and which drugs they were into.

— Dave Kehr (@dave_kehr) June 22, 2020

I mean, considering he was 51 at the time, if you can get that information out of them then you've got some kind of rapport!

i will say st. elmo's fire is one of the worst movies i've ever put myself through

i love batman & robin. i saw it on my 10th birthday. now i'm gay. coincidence

The first time I saw a sax player perform live and they neither had a ponytail nor were shirtless and greased, I just didn't know what to make of the world.

That Kael line about having style to burn applies to Schumacher.

That Kael line about having style to burn applies to Schumacher.

Can you give examples? Because even if you compare him to other "bad" directors like Michael Bay or Tony Scott, he seems to have no visual trademarks at all.

i love batman & robin. i saw it on my 10th birthday. now i'm gay. coincidence

My husband's reaction to the news was something like "is that the guy everybody hates for ruining Batman? Because I thank him for Chris O'Donnell's Robin suit."

i will say st. elmo's fire is one of the worst movies i've ever put myself through

hard agree

Schumacher began as a store window dresser.

Val Kilmer is my favorite Batman after Adam West, and his Incredible Shrinking Woman with Lily Tomlin is rather fun.

Had to check his IMDB page...I think I found Flatliners scary, and The Client was pretty good.

his Incredible Shrinking Woman with Lily Tomlin is rather fun.

Yeah, I have to admit I really liked that one.

I saw it when I was nine.

For anyone puzzled by my last post--I think I might be confusing Flatliners with Jacob's Ladder.

(Jacob's Ladder the movie--Huey Lewis is a different kind of scary.)

met Schumacher briefly a decade or so ago. some friends dragged me to dinner they arranged with him at the now defunct Lion Restaurant on W 9th, I remember all of us mostly listening while he did all of the talking

Incredible Shrinking Woman was written by Jane Wagner, Lily's collab/wife, and is a patchy but antic consumer satire. More meat than most Joel S projects.

Pretty good comment, I think:

Joel Schumacher used to come into my video store quite often and he was the nicest, funniest man. I asked what he thought of the LOST BOYS sequel he just returned. I believe his response is a big factor as to why he was so successful.
"Everybody deserves a shot." pic.twitter.com/uXgOsGUmpE

— Shane Bitterling (@ShaneBitterling) June 22, 2020

other "bad" directors like Michael Bay or Tony Scott

man tony scott doesn't deserve that

Like Michael Bay or Tony Scott Adrian Lyne.

(I don't think Tony Scott was a particularly good director, either, but he had his moments.)

I put "bad" in quotes because I love Tony Scott. I own Domino and Unstoppable and The Last Boy Scout and would happily re-watch Deja Vu and Man On Fire anytime.