SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 132 - Miracle Mile

[sickc0d3r]

Did you realize it was nominated this week? <45>

Um.... yes of course I did! Don't be ridiculous.

 

[Yotsuya]

Nice movie. Cinematography went really well with the Tangerine Dream score and constant stream of weirdos kept the plot entertaining. That was a good thing, because I didn’t care for the main characters until very end. Last ten minutes were great!

 

[Zer]

Having a little trouble getting this in Canada but think I finally found a way. Should be able to watch this weekend

 

[Yotsuya]

There was a nice ”movie inside the movie” -reference btw. When Harry woke up at hotel he did some channel surfing and left the telly open at channel which was just startin to air King Vidor’s Bird of Paradise (1932). It’s pretty goofy and somewhat delirious adventure spectacle / romantic movie. Sailor (Joel McRea) need to stay at a tropical island and falls for native chief’s daughter (Dolores del Rio), who is about to be sacrificed for the volcano god!

 

[MusterX]

The entire movie was set off by a butterfly effect. Well, not the entire movie but as far as Harry was concerned the smallest little detail changed everything. He meets Julie then agrees to see her after work so he goes to his hotel to take a nap but before he does so he has a smoke. He flicks his lit cigarette on the ground which is then promptly picked up by a bird that flies it on top of the hotel to its nest which lights the nest on fire which knocks out the hotel power, making Harry late.

Because Harry is late he takes a phone call in a pay phone warning him of nuclear destruction and then on a long series of events that eventually leads him to dying in the Labrea tar pits with Julie. Moral of the story, don't smoke kids, you could die in a tar pit, or of cancer....from the tar.....in the cigarettes.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

The entire movie was set off by a butterfly effect. Well, not the entire movie but as far as Harry was concerned the smallest little detail changed everything. He meets Julie then agrees to see her after work so he goes to his hotel to take a nap but before he does so he has a smoke. He flicks his lit cigarette on the ground which is then promptly picked up by a bird that flies it on top of the hotel to its nest which lights the nest on fire which knocks out the hotel power, making Harry late.

Because Harry is late he takes a phone call in a pay phone warning him of nuclear destruction and then on a long series of events that eventually leads him to dying in the Labrea tar pits with Julie. Moral of the story, don't smoke kids, you could die in a tar pit, or of cancer....from the tar.....in the cigarettes.

A bird picking up a lit cigarette seems counter-intuitive to what I know about animals. Must be dat noir, yo.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

As far as any doubt that the attack was impending, I think Chip in the silo getting shot and the other guy picking up the phone was all the confirmation required.

 

[MusterX]

As far as any doubt that the attack was impending, I think Chip in the silo getting shot and the other guy picking up the phone was all the confirmation required.

Not necessarily though right? I mean if they were pulling a prank then making it sound like the guy got killed could have been part of the prank. I heard the call and still thought it wasn't really happening until the last 30 minutes.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Not necessarily though right? I mean if they were pulling a prank then making it sound like the guy got killed could have been part of the prank. I heard the call and still thought it wasn't really happening until the last 30 minutes.

You could hold out that hope, but to me the movie made no attempt at ambiguity. Then at one point Goose called Chip's dad so at that point the whole prank theory goes bye-bye.

 

[MusterX]

You could hold out that hope, but to me the movie made no attempt at ambiguity. Then at one point Goose called Chip's dad so at that point the whole prank theory goes bye-bye.

Yea, I guess it does. It was the change of tone that was tripping me up. Shit started off light-hearted. I even thought it was kinda funny when Harry wants the diner cook to pull the truck over so he can get out and the cook tells his ass to jump out when he hits the on ramp. Harry jumps out and knocks himself out in the process then somehow meets Bubba Gump's long lost relative smuggling radio equipment.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Yea, I guess it does. It was the change of tone that was tripping me up. Shit started off light-hearted. I even thought it was kinda funny when Harry wants the diner cook to pull the truck over so he can get out and the cook tells his ass to jump out when he hits the on ramp. Harry jumps out and knocks himself out in the process then somehow meets Bubba Gump's long lost relative smuggling radio equipment.

Remdind me, where where they all going in that scene? I thought to the chopper, but later in the film the diner is practically right next to the building it's on.

 

[MusterX]

Remdind me, where where they all going in that scene? I thought to the chopper, but later in the film the diner is practically right next to the building it's on.

They were all hauling ass to the airport because phone chick had some contacts.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

They were all hauling ass to the airport because phone chick had some contacts.

Thought the plan was take the chopper to the airport.

 

[MusterX]

Thought the plan was take the chopper to the airport.

Harry was going to take the chopper because he had to go get Julie but the ones in the food truck were hauling ass to the airport. Phone chick even told someone on the other end of he line to buy tickets to South America and no price is too high.

 

[Bullitt68]

I was going to try to think of a movie which such a change in tone or a similar change in tone but couldn't really do it.

The closest thing to it that I'm able to come up with is the Fritz Lang movie that I bring up in my essay, Scarlett Street, but not even that one really compares.

There is an air of sunniness and hope in the opening scenes of Miracle Mile and then it closes in thick darkness. There is a particular scene where Harry is narrating about the miracle mile and it shows the trolley from a time long past as it winds its way through the miracle mile. Its followed by a scene where Harry goes to the park on a sunny day in his pursuit of Julie and they meet her grandparents who, even though they haven't spoken in 15 years, still love one another. That scene even contains stopping off for a nice hot dog. If it had Baseball in the background it could have just as easily been the introduction to a Superman movie.

I didn't realize during the movie that there is a connection there to be made between the old trolley from an era that has now past, to the idea that humanity was living in a new era, even on borrowed time if you like, just like that old trolley. The idea was there in the narration but cleverly hidden because we don't know where the movie is going. The trolley is extinct, its down to the last of its kind, surrounded by a modern city. The viewer sees the rise and fall of all the organisms leading up to Mankind at the start of the film and then the film itself captures that singular moment of calamity called an extinction event and just like the dinosaurs we would never see it coming.

I wrote a whole fucking essay on this movie and never put that together. This is why I love talking about movies. Good call. Harry's line about the trolley - "it's just a little out of time" - could sum up the film itself!

I didn't pick up on the hourglass thing while watching the film because I didn't know where the film was going.

Definitely one of those second viewing, now-I-know-what-it-means nuggets.

Excellent comparison of the Big Bang that begins everything and the nuclear warhead bang that ends everything. The fact that we would not see it coming until it was too late is what makes extinction level events scary. Asteroids, nuclear war, biological meltdowns, etc. are scary because the majority of people who never take the time to think about these things are going along believing that this thing we call civilization is just going to stretch on to infinity and the cold harsh reality of history seems to indicate that just isn't true. 99.9% of every species that has ever existed is now extinct. Let that sink in some, 99.9%. The end of the film presents us with this dark message and even if its not a nuclear war that gets us, you can rest assured that the likelihood of something "getting us" is going to happen at some point, be it an ice-age or a comet or a dozen other possibilities.

Based on the frequency of Sherdog threads about it, I'm going to go with the Yellowstone volcano for $200, Alex. Tommy Lee Jones better be prepping his ass off.

Harry was aware that this cycle of life and death and extinction events just repeats itself which is why he said, "I think its the insects turn." The dinosaurs had their turn, and humanity had its turn, and now its the insects turn, and someday, someone will dig he and Julie's bodies out of the pit and put them in a museum. Then the film fades to black as Harry and Julie die. Have you ever heard of dense darkness? Its the idea that the angels that sinned against God and were fallen were sealed away until the end of time in a dense darkness. Not just in darkness, but a dense darkness.

No, but talk about giving your nightmares nightmares...

Carpe diem Bullitt.

Take heart! I enjoyed the flick in some ways, and you are still money in my book, even after this minor setback

I haven't read your essay (I will try to take the time to do so later). You've got my attention, but I'm not really convinced. I'm fine with the creative re-imagining of basic plausibility as long as the characters delivering the message are convincing. The attempted gravitas was lost on me here, because all the pivotal moments were written on vapor, and Edwards couldn't make it work. The supporting cast couldn't make it work. Maybe I needed it to take itself a little less seriously. A little more Big Trouble In Little China and a little less Escape From New York, if that makes sense.

I've shown this movie to everyone in my life, I even showed it to an entire film class, and this is literally the first time that I'm hearing this. The cast, especially the supporting cast, elevates the film to an even higher level, man.

Bubba stopped his car for a lunatic waving his gun in the streets while toting a trunkload of stolen goods. Then proceeded to stay with the guy for no apparent reason and with no identifiable motivation to trust him when he could have hauled ass at the gas station. Then sprayed gas on some cops and swore it wasn't his fault when they set themselves on fire. No, Bubba Gump wasn't even believable as a character, let alone sympathetic. I think there was material there to work with, but it wasn't given enough time or interesting enough dialogue to connect with me.

Vision Quest is an all time great, untouchable 80's classic!

Nice movie. Cinematography went really well with the Tangerine Dream score and constant stream of weirdos kept the plot entertaining. That was a good thing, because I didn’t care for the main characters until very end. Last ten minutes were great!

More knocks on the cast and characters? What was your beef?

There was a nice ”movie inside the movie” -reference btw. When Harry woke up at hotel he did some channel surfing and left the telly open at channel which was just startin to air King Vidor’s Bird of Paradise (1932). It’s pretty goofy and somewhat delirious adventure spectacle / romantic movie. Sailor (Joel McRea) need to stay at a tropical island and falls for native chief’s daughter (Dolores del Rio), who is about to be sacrificed for the volcano god!

I beat Muster to Gravity's Rainbow and you beat him to Bird of Paradise. I wonder if there are any references buried deeper than those two.

The entire movie was set off by a butterfly effect. Well, not the entire movie but as far as Harry was concerned the smallest little detail changed everything. He meets Julie then agrees to see her after work so he goes to his hotel to take a nap but before he does so he has a smoke. He flicks his lit cigarette on the ground which is then promptly picked up by a bird that flies it on top of the hotel to its nest which lights the nest on fire which knocks out the hotel power, making Harry late.

Because Harry is late he takes a phone call in a pay phone warning him of nuclear destruction and then on a long series of events that eventually leads him to dying in the Labrea tar pits with Julie. Moral of the story, don't smoke kids, you could die in a tar pit, or of cancer....from the tar.....in the cigarettes.

There's no escaping the Destiny-machine.

A bird picking up a lit cigarette seems counter-intuitive to what I know about animals. Must be dat noir, yo.

As far as any doubt that the attack was impending, I think Chip in the silo getting shot and the other guy picking up the phone was all the confirmation required.

Not necessarily though right? I mean if they were pulling a prank then making it sound like the guy got killed could have been part of the prank. I heard the call and still thought it wasn't really happening until the last 30 minutes.

You could hold out that hope, but to me the movie made no attempt at ambiguity. Then at one point Goose called Chip's dad so at that point the whole prank theory goes bye-bye.

Even if the prank theory falls away, you can still hope for the attack being called off or intercepted. Confirming the veracity of Chip's report that missiles should be coming isn't an automatic guarantee that they're going to arrive. Not to mention, if you're really hoping against hope, you could still hold on to the dream theory.

As for the movie not making any attempt at ambiguity: Neither did The Sixth Sense but that didn't stop everyone getting fooled. Have you ever watched The Sixth Sense already knowing the ending? Talk about an experience to make you feel stupid

Remdind me, where where they all going in that scene? I thought to the chopper, but later in the film the diner is practically right next to the building it's on.

They were all hauling ass to the airport because phone chick had some contacts.

Thought the plan was take the chopper to the airport.

Harry was going to take the chopper because he had to go get Julie but the ones in the food truck were hauling ass to the airport. Phone chick even told someone on the other end of he line to buy tickets to South America and no price is too high.

Muster's right. The group in the van, they're going to the airport, but while they're in the van, Landa sets up a chopper to takeoff from the Mutual helipad to the airport to shuttle her crew in anticipation of street-level mayhem. That then becomes Harry's Plan B when he decides to jump out and go after Julie.

 

[Nailgun]

Wow, what odd Direction.

It set off on a weird nerdy love story between Napoleon Dynamite and Ziggy Stardust. As the film progresses the ridiculousness of the characters is gargantually overshadowed by the cheesynesss of the story and reactions. The timings though!

Need more time to formulate a review. Just wow.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Even if the prank theory falls away, you can still hope for the attack being called off or intercepted.

 

[Yotsuya]

More knocks on the cast and characters? What was your beef?

Annoyance mixed with envy.

 

[Zer]

Was kind of trippy seeing Anthony Edwards in a leading role. At first I didn't know what to make of him. He had a charismatic demeanor, but his delivery kind of bothered me. But the big turning point of the film obviously transforms his performance and from there I quite liked him in the part. He did a fine job but I didn't buy any kind of chemistry between him and his love interest. Like people have said the whole love story was a bit hasty. I think it could've worked better if it was an already established, long term relationship with two characters who are kind of sick of each others shit and bust each others balls, but as things get desperate and mad you see dat heart and the fundamental love between them emerging.

With the tone shifts I thought the transition from love story to apocalyptic drama at the diner was actually pretty well handled. The scenes at the gas station (Two random cops getting torched to death) and at ram raid (Wilson and his sister) were two moments where I was wondering the fuck the film was going for. They didn't really fit into the overall mood or objective. I also didn't like LA going full Detroit near the end with the crowded streets full of armed thugs randomly gunning people down (I liked how it had people randomly making out though - it reminded or that one famous photo taken during some riot in Canada of two people laying on the road kissing). It was like Death Wish or some shit. I'm sure if we were facing nuclear apocalypse it would bring out the worst in society but things escalated too quickly and besides, I really like the architecture of the film and the empty LA streets. I would've continued with that straight to the end. I feel it would've set a better tone if the entire thing happened while the whole city was asleep and 99.999% of the population were totally unaware. I also think that would've given you more room to add intimacy to the main relationship. The massive riot at the end is just clutter and doesn't really add anything to the movie.

There was a lot of plot convenience but the only one that really bugged me was Denise Crosby at the diner having military/government connections to help validate Harry's phonecall. I could've done without that because one fun question that crept up in parts of the film was obviously 'Is shit actually going down or is the twist going to be nothing happens?' But Crosby doesn't help that at all. Plus you go back to the cops dying at the gas station and Wilson and his sister and they feel like they're spoiling the end and they've got to have a nuclear apocalypse at that point. It'd be too dark for the film to have those deaths over some weirdo phonecall.

I liked the actors that popped up like Kurt Fuller (I love that guy in everything), Earl Boen and Brian Thompson. Brian Thompson was great. You kind of wondered why the fuck the chopper would go back for Harry and Julie at the end, but you kind of buy it because Thompson's character just seems like that kind of dude. He made a big impression and he only had like 2 minutes of screentime. I wonder if him having a skinny, blonde boytoy was a nod to The Road Warrior? In the post-apocalyptic world Brian Thompson could've totally become someone like Wez or the Lord Humungous or some shit.

The soundtrack stood out and made for some very atmospheric scenes but then at some points it uses generic Hollywood music and it clashes pretty badly with the Tangerine Dream. If you got a chance to get Tangerine Dream into your film though you obviously take it so I can forgive the inconsistent soundtrack.

Overall a fun film with an interesting concept that makes you think about how you'd execute it. I guess with that said you're always gonna end up shitting on the film a little bit, and end up saying you would've handled shit better.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

I wonder if him having a skinny, blonde boytoy was a nod to The Road Warrior?

The Road Warrior meets Perfect.