Need to identify this eighties/early nineties film.

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writer + "comes to life" + scratch + balls

Gilbert O'Sullivan (kenan), Thursday, 20 April 2006 13:06 (seventeen years ago) link

There was a preview of a supposedly indie movie when I went to the movies the other day about a writer who's character is aware of his being written, and then comes to life, and the movie seemed to think this was some kind of clever, original idea.

Gilbert O'Sullivan (kenan), Thursday, 20 April 2006 13:08 (seventeen years ago) link

by elimination:
infallible comedy stand-bys: obvious non-rapper gets to rap

mark s (mark s), Thursday, 20 April 2006 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link

"Screamplay" ?

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 20 April 2006 13:15 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah a plot keyword search on imdb only turns up 23 hits for typewriter and that's the only one that makes any sense, but you think Tuomas might have mentioned the fact that it was shot entirely in grainy black & white

also Dick Van Dyke rapping - is it as good as Debbie Harry rapping?

TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 20 April 2006 13:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Naked Lunch, no?

Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 20 April 2006 14:01 (seventeen years ago) link

in finland all films are still in grainy black and white

mark s (mark s), Thursday, 20 April 2006 14:02 (seventeen years ago) link

wait a minute...has the man->woman got PHANTOM BALL ITCH?

Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 20 April 2006 14:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Haha, I am imagining an alternate universe version of Naked Lunch with this plot. The villain who comes to life would be Ian Holm, of course.

mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 20 April 2006 14:15 (seventeen years ago) link

he has a magic typewriter: whatever he writes with it comes true!

The Shining DUH!

Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 20 April 2006 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Wasn't there a Shining remake with one (or all) of the cast of Wings?

Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 20 April 2006 14:49 (seventeen years ago) link

i don't remember that happening in the Shining
xp

Ste (Fuzzy), Thursday, 20 April 2006 14:53 (seventeen years ago) link

So no one has seen this? I couldn't have imagined, could I? I still remember the Finnish translation of the ball-scratching rap (though not the original, unfortunately)...

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 21 April 2006 11:42 (seventeen years ago) link

urgh tuomoas i remember this movie, too. i remember seeing the video at the video shop as a kid and wonderng - HMM.

i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Friday, 21 April 2006 14:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Yay, I'm not imagining things! Did you saw the movie itself, or just the video at the store?

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 21 April 2006 19:05 (seventeen years ago) link

"Wasn't there a Shining remake with one (or all) of the cast of Wings?"

Paul and Linda McCartney in the Shining?

JTS (JTS), Friday, 21 April 2006 19:45 (seventeen years ago) link

If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.
If I ever get out of here, going to give it all away.

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 21 April 2006 19:54 (seventeen years ago) link

he has a magic typewriter: whatever he writes with it comes true!

The Shining DUH!

jack becomes dull?

a.b. (alanbanana), Saturday, 22 April 2006 01:08 (seventeen years ago) link

five months pass...
Revive!

Still haven't found it, I wish I could remember even pat of the title. If I remember correctly, the movie ended (not surprisingly) with someone writing the story of the movie with the magic typewriter.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 19 October 2006 17:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Anybody?

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 20 October 2006 06:36 (seventeen years ago) link

this movie doesn't exist

latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 20 October 2006 06:56 (seventeen years ago) link

Are you absolutely certain it was a movie and not an episode of a TV series? The general idea is very Philip K. Dick, I'd guess it was some kind of SF series?

StanM (StanM), Friday, 20 October 2006 07:20 (seventeen years ago) link

This is not very helpful but... I have a vague memory of a sci-fi short story with a plot very similar to this. Might be entirely unrelated, and I definitely don't have whichever anthology it was in with me now; but it might be back at my parents house so I'll try and check it out next time I'm there.

ledge (ledge), Friday, 20 October 2006 07:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I suspect it was an episode of Murder She Wrote.

Alba (Alba), Friday, 20 October 2006 07:39 (seventeen years ago) link

IS IT RED DAWN DIR. BY JOHN MILIUS?!

Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 20 October 2006 07:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, I guess it might've been an TV series episode, but it seemed kinda longish for that, and I seem to remeber it being a film. The only show they were showing at Finnish TV at that time which might've had episodes like that was The Twilight Zone, and I clearly remember all the episodes I saw as episodes of The Twilight Zone, not as films. It might've been a made-for-TV movie though.

(x-post)

Thanks, Leigh!

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 20 October 2006 07:44 (seventeen years ago) link

Otherwise I might just think I've made this thing up, but I have a very clear image of the guy rapping about not neing able to scratch his balls, and I don't think I could've made up something like that back when I was 11.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 20 October 2006 07:49 (seventeen years ago) link

The imdb message boards for the similarly themed Will Farrell flick Stranger Than Fiction have a discussion comparing it to an episode of the New Twilight Zone, so it's possible. I checked an episode guide but couldn't find it. Unlikely that it would have the ball-scratching bit though.

slugbuggy (slugbuggy), Friday, 20 October 2006 07:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, it's not the most novel of ideas, is it? I probably wouldn't even remember it without the sex change and the ball-scratching rap.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:02 (seventeen years ago) link

List of all Twilight Zone/New Twilight Zone episodes @ Wikipedia, but you have to click each one to see a short synopsis

StanM (StanM), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:06 (seventeen years ago) link

I'd like to see the monitoring department at Google now... "The "ball scratching typewriter rapper" queries from all over the world are back, wtf?"

StanM (StanM), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:09 (seventeen years ago) link

http://entertainment.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=131580

The first season Twilight Zone came to a delightful conclusion on July 1, 1960, with this episode, written by Richard Matheson. Coming home early one afternoon, Victoria West (Phyllis Kirk) is shocked to find her playwright husband Gregory West (Keenan Wynn) in the arms of another woman named Mary (Mary LaRoche). When Victoria demands an explanation, Gregory is forced to reveal that Mary was purely a figment of his imagination, "invented" on the writer's tape recorder. To prove this point, Gregory not only makes Mary re-appear, but also a "huge, red-eyed element." But this is not the only surprise in store for the nonplussed Victoria West. The hilarious finale finds series creator Rod Serling joining in on the festivities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

1960 though, maybe it was updated for the later series.

Koogy Yonderboy (koogs), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:18 (seventeen years ago) link

I have a vague memory of a sci-fi short story with a plot very similar to this.

It's The Magic Typewriter by Jerome Bixby.

Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Ste says something about it on this thread:

[i]that guy from that movie who plays a novelist and has a magic typewriter... UM![/i]

infallible comedy stand-bys: obvious non-rapper gets to rap

Eva van Rein (Gaia1981), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:49 (seventeen years ago) link

ah that was supposed to be in italics. oh well.

Eva van Rein (Gaia1981), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes, 2 hours after Tuomas started this thread.

ONIMO's fish might turn into lizards (GerryNemo), Friday, 20 October 2006 08:54 (seventeen years ago) link

ah, nevermind then :P

Eva van Rein (Gaia1981), Friday, 20 October 2006 09:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, that thread was started because of this. But thanks for the help anyway.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 20 October 2006 10:55 (seventeen years ago) link

http://static.flickr.com/12/14877265_20ad2ce603_m.jpg
"All balls itch!"

zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:29 (seventeen years ago) link

i posted a new entry to that rapping thread, came back to new answers and all my purple links had turned blue. it's like i'm in ILE, but i'm not at all. i swear this place is like Silent Hill sometimes.

(i know its because of the wh3rd and p3r difference)

Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:36 (seventeen years ago) link

it wasn't an episode of the outer limits was it?

wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 20 October 2006 11:53 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't even know what that is.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:05 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm pretty sure it was the pornified version of the shining.

Nathalie (stevie nixed), Friday, 20 October 2006 12:08 (seventeen years ago) link

four months pass...
Bump.
Still a mystery.

Tuomas, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 09:59 (seventeen years ago) link

Not Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter? Its been years since I saw it. I forget what happens, I'm just guessing.

Trayce, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 10:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Could this be some kind of movie memory mashup, where you've got an old Twilight Zone episode, Blake Edwards' "Switch,"and "Kangaroo Jack" in some kind of daymare blend?

I am obsessed with finding out about this now.

Ben Boyerrr, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 10:08 (seventeen years ago) link

I've got one of my own now!

It's a film which ends with all the participants meeting in the middle of a dusty road surrounded by cornfields. They all leave down the road. Then there are some characters who have died during the film. Their spirits are present as well, but they leave in a bus that instead of going away down the road floats off perpendicular to the road across the cornfields. Anyone?

unfished business, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 10:12 (seventeen years ago) link

I must see this typewriter-stealing rapper masterpiece. It sounds like a story I'd have written at that age.

Abbott, Thursday, 8 March 2007 03:44 (seventeen years ago) link

two months pass...

Bump.

Tuomas, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 13:32 (sixteen years ago) link

oh god no not again

Ste, Wednesday, 30 May 2007 15:33 (sixteen years ago) link

i've been googling it for a decade.

dylannn, Sunday, 5 July 2015 07:31 (eight years ago) link

i saw it on the drambuie showcase review or possibly bravo, late at night. i feel like the man learned the sex secrets from a book, possibly some taoist sex manual.

dylannn, Sunday, 5 July 2015 07:36 (eight years ago) link

i actually haven't been googling it for a decade. i thought about it for the first time in 17 years while eating crab today.

dylannn, Sunday, 5 July 2015 07:45 (eight years ago) link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_and_Zen

This movie has a man learning sex secrets from a manual, and it also has two sequels. Can't remember any crab-eating scene, but I haven't watched it since the 1990s. It has a fairly memorable scene the where the guy has replaced his small penis with a horse's dong (not shown onscreen), and needs to use a ladder to have sex with some woman.

Tuomas, Sunday, 5 July 2015 13:38 (eight years ago) link

it was arty + modern. the actors may have had british accents.

dylannn, Sunday, 5 July 2015 22:32 (eight years ago) link

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145893/

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 01:47 (eight years ago) link

Trivia
Sarah Michelle Gellar has stated that this is one of her least favorite films that she has been in.

johnny crunch, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 01:59 (eight years ago) link

probably not it

dylannn, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 06:38 (eight years ago) link

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114134/

haven't seen this since the late 90s and don't recall a scene like you describe but ticks some of the boxes

efreet liberal (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 07:03 (eight years ago) link

it makes finding it more difficult but it was a short film and i believe part of an anthology of erotic shorts.

dylannn, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:00 (eight years ago) link

i am offering a $100 USD prize to whoever can find this.

dylannn, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:00 (eight years ago) link

The Pillow Book is a v. good guess. Other possible contenders:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082422/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101316/?ref_=nv_sr_2

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0459666/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:00 (eight years ago) link

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082422/ -- too old, not the right contemporary setting. have you seen this? is it good?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101316/?ref_=nv_sr_2 -- tony leung as "the chinaman." not even close but... looks interesting?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0459666/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 -- i love this movie. the goofiness of the sex, the taoist sex manual and the crab eating makes hou hsiao hsien a good guess but it wasn't hou hsiao hsien.

but none of those.

dylannn, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:12 (eight years ago) link

Five Senses of Eros? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587422/

anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:20 (eight years ago) link

too recent. no crab eating or wheelbarrow position.

dylannn, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:29 (eight years ago) link

cpost
Saw Fruits of Passion many years ago, in the memory it's pretty barmy and worth seeking out

Haven't seen The Lover, it had a 'shocking' reputation for a while in Britain because it featured a very young English actress who went on to make a terrible film with Bruce Willis

sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:31 (eight years ago) link

Lady In Heat? http://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film730748.html

anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 08:58 (eight years ago) link

shit, getting CLOSE. but not it.

dylannn, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 09:01 (eight years ago) link

Erotique http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109742/

Segment 3 is "Wonton Soup." Here an Australian-Chinese man tries to rekindle his affair with a Chinese woman by returning to their roots: both in the kitchen and in the bedroom.

anthony braxton diamond geezer (anagram), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 09:12 (eight years ago) link

The Pillow Book is a v. good guess

First thing I thought of but I don't remember there being any, errrr, crabs in it.

holger sharkey (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 11:38 (eight years ago) link

Ha, just noticed the post above mine, you owe anagram $100!!!!!!

holger sharkey (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 July 2015 11:41 (eight years ago) link

I was just about to post Erotique! I remembered watching some multi-part erotic film that had an Asian segment, and the only other thing I remembered about it was that Priscilla Barnes (A Chrissy replacement on Three's Company) was in it, so I went to her imdb page.

nickn, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 17:14 (eight years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hSnLqancDA

This is all there is on youtube from Destiny to Order.

how's life, Tuesday, 7 July 2015 17:50 (eight years ago) link

ten months pass...

French, or maybe Spanish or Andorran film, late 90s or 2000s. I saw it in late 2009 but it was not necessarily new. It's set at some kind of orphanage or boarding house (kids are there, in any case) out in the boonies, kind of scrubby countryside, some hills. I can't remember the plot at all except that it is mostly or entirely set out at this orphanage, and there are mobsters or criminals that come out there to ...kill everybody? Or they just want some money or a particular guy? I feel like the climax is the kids kind of surviving against these gangsters. One kid spends a lot of the movie out on his own, maybe trying to run to the next town? Like he's really good at sports? And you think he's dead at one point but actually he survived and made a plan and comes back in the nick of time, I think. I'm making this sound a little like Home Alone but the kids are older than that and the tone is a lot heavier, though I think there are some laughs.

― Doctor Casino, Saturday, April 25, 2015 6:43 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

finally found this - it's Éric Rochant's Total Western. Google Translate of French Wikipedia suggests it was about a criminal thug who lays low by posing as a teacher at a juvenile offenders' center in the boonies. Some other mafioso types show up to take him down and recover some protection money he made off with, but with the help of the kids he takes them all down, brutally.

sisterhood of the baggering vance (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 12 May 2016 04:46 (seven years ago) link

four months pass...

2) This one was definitely a TV series: it featured a boy who ended up in space in a rather weird way. Someone or something dislodged his room (but nothing else) from his parents' house, and the room was floating in space. So when he opened the door to his room, all he could see was stars! The series also had a cyborg bad guy with a scary, glowing cyborg eye.

― Tuomas, 1. maaliskuuta 2010 19:29 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Someone at tvtropes.com remembered this series too, though they couldn't remember its name either. They did provide this extra info though:

The house floating in space is almost identical to Zathura, However, the residents are not travelling home and there is a bubble shield around the house that protects it from impact. I would lean toward it being British in origin, and it had reruns in the early 2000s. Most likely on the BBC. live action. There is also one scene I remember: Two boys are standing outside the house (on the floating rock) the first boy is worried about something and asks the second boy for advice. Throughout the conversation the second boy is throwing stones at the bubble shield, trying to get them to go through, but they keep bouncing back, at one point one does penetrate the shield, and he shouts "that one went through!". Near the end of the conversation, the first boy says something that makes the second stop and stare at him. at this point his last thrown stone bounces back and hits him on the head, knocking him over.

Does this ring any bells for you Britons?

Tuomas, Friday, 30 September 2016 06:28 (seven years ago) link

Oh, and as I mentioned upthread, I saw this series on the telly in the '80s, so it can't be newer than that. "Zathura" is the 2005 film with a similar premise.

Tuomas, Friday, 30 September 2016 06:29 (seven years ago) link

Tuomas, is it Crash? Danish series from 1984?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CnERf2d3Yg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_(1984_TV_series)

thomasintrouble, Friday, 30 September 2016 11:17 (seven years ago) link

Wow, I think that's actually it! I googled Crash and turns out it was show on Finnish telly in 1986, which would the right era for me having seen it as a young kid (I turned 7 that year). Thanks a bunch!

Tuomas, Friday, 30 September 2016 12:24 (seven years ago) link

No problem! I just googled bedroom spaceship tv. Looks like most of it is on google, enjoy!

thomasintrouble, Friday, 30 September 2016 12:45 (seven years ago) link

I mean, most of it is on youtube...

thomasintrouble, Friday, 30 September 2016 13:42 (seven years ago) link

two months pass...

The end credits of Destiny to Order, featuring clips from the film, a song (sadly, not "Destiny Rap") and gratuitous shots of the late, lamented Sam the Record Man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uhyXrD6M4g

rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 04:32 (seven years ago) link

Wow, thanks! So much eighties hair! And I gotta say, Jefferson Mappin and Richardo Keens-Douglas are pretty awesome names.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 08:24 (seven years ago) link

So wait... if that footage is to be trusted, is it in fact a magic IBM XT and not a typewriter at all!?

mega pegasus for reindeer (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 21 December 2016 00:40 (seven years ago) link

three years pass...

Top ten ilx threads right here, imho

healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Saturday, 15 August 2020 23:39 (three years ago) link

six months pass...

This is a movie I saw at a film festival in 2015 or 2016, so it's from the 2010s. A very surreal Japanese movie where a guy falls in the sewers and meets these weird CGI animals. He befriends one of them, who sings a song to him. Guy records the song, it becomes a massive hit and he becomes a big pop star, but he never tells he got it from his animal friend, and his conscience starts to weigh on him. In the end the animal grows into Godzilla size and attacks the guy during a big concert of his. I'm sure some of you must know this one?

Tuomas, Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:54 (three years ago) link

Yes, that's it, thanks!

Tuomas, Sunday, 7 March 2021 00:08 (three years ago) link

one year passes...

My gf and her friends have spent years trying to figure out what cartoon (glimpsed in the background of a family photo) is from. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of people have seen this image but nobody knows what it is from. If you recognize this man, please tell me. pic.twitter.com/nZibSf1QQH

— Will Sloan (@WillSloanEsq) September 2, 2022

i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Monday, 5 September 2022 18:36 (one year ago) link

(reveal on thread if you want to challenge yourself and not look)

i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Monday, 5 September 2022 18:37 (one year ago) link

The one that'd always bugged me as a kid, I worked out some years ago. A weird Japanese anime version of Jack and the Beanstalk, especially the bits with the witch (hope this link jumps to the right part)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnd3MFBink4

And also the song about 16 minutes in, which was stuck in my head for YEARS pre-internet never being able to work out what the hell I'd seen.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 6 September 2022 08:43 (one year ago) link

I remember seeing a film on TV about fifteen years ago. I was half-watching it. It was odd. It was essentially a Japanese sci-fi cartoon - an "anime" as young people call them - but interspersed with the animation was live-action footage of a US actor in a spacesuit talking to a little girl. The animated sequences were supposed to represent some kind of fantasy world that the little girl could access. The live-action used cartoonish matte paintings. I remember it still.

A bit of Googling leaves me none the wiser, although I'm disappointed to learn that Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt isn't nearly as rude as I was expecting. Have you ever played Antichamber? It's a puzzle game with mind-bending portals. I like to call it Pantychamber because that thought pleases me.

Ashley Pomeroy, Tuesday, 6 September 2022 18:53 (one year ago) link


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