SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 132 - Miracle Mile

[BeardotheWeirdo]

I'm working crazy hours lately so excuse my slow response. I just finished watching Miracle Mile.

All I knew going into the movie was that it was a love story, I didn't remember reading about the nuclear threat in the description last week, so I was quite surprised when the seemingly innocent love story descended into madness. I didn't really know what to expect, was the threat real, I wasn't really sure until the cops evacuated the area, while hunting a cop-killer, then I knew the threat was real.

The introduction to the movie recounts a brief history of the universe and life, and the time span over which it occurred, followed by "it took Harry 30 years to find love". There's two ways to take the ending to the introduction, but Harrys statement "A once in a million girl and I miss my chance" indicates that the message is basically "real true love is a very rare thing, much like earth (in the universe)" Existence without love is meaningless, which is why Harry gives up on survival to spend his last hour with Julie, and why Julies parents do the same thing.

Harry mentions his luck in finding a girl that knows who the two obscure jazz musicians he mentioned are. Indeed the more obscure our tastes the harder it is to find people who share them. This is partly why I rejoined the Sherdog movie club, who else can I discuss 60's Italian cinema with?

The way Harry decides to spend his final hour says it all. He gave up his only chance of survival to spend it with the woman he loved, sort of. That's kind of my issue with the movie though. Perhaps I'm just too practical... probably. With such little time remaining I think I'd just put on my favorite album (full blast) get high and wait for the fireworks. The more the movie progressed the more frustrated I became at how they chose to spend their final hour on earth. But that was the point of the movie I suppose. Harrys actions further illustrated the power of love.

The ending was very fitting, beautiful and honest. Our purpose is merely to fuel more life, we're just a tiny part in a massive cycle. The cycle of life, the food chain. In the grand scheme of things even earth and our galaxy will be consumed by bigger neighboring galaxies, and eventually entire universe will implode and start anew with another big bang. Everything is just matter, fuel, an ingredient on the primordial soup that makes up all existence, as we know it.

 

[BeardotheWeirdo]

Okay, I've read the thread now, I don't have the time or patience to deal wit multi-quotes at the moment ha, so I'll just make some general responses.

As for the (very convenient) woman in the diner with the government contacts, with the wonderful 80's cell phone. I agree with @Bullitt68 she was vital to the plot. Without her I would've assumed it was just a prank.

I think the diner, streetcar/trolley and the big band jazz were there to give it a noir film. I don't agree with @MusterX theory that the trolley is there to represent the past, and that the movie is a comment on the current age. Nuclear and atomic bombs were used in the 40's when streetcars and diners were popular. And by the time Miracle Mile was made the "Russian threat" was dying down.

The love story could've lasted longer before Harry sacrificed his only chance at survival for true love. But he's a love-at-first-sight, hopeless romantic type, there's plenty of them out there. The theme of rescuing a loved one in a disaster movie is so common place that it didn't bother me, despite them barely knowing each other. Harry wasn't exactly a player. He's a nerd as everyone pointed out, so the idea of him being a hopeless romantic is quite realistic to me.

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.

Harry had to know they wouldn't wait for him, for fear of what happened to the chopper, happening to the plane. I'm not sure why they spent all that time looking for a chopper pilot. I guess he spent the time looking for one because he couldn't stand the thought of losing her. That's also why he jumped from the truck. Survival alone wasn't an option for him, it was together or bust.

 

[europe1]

It's established right from the jump that Harry's a nerd. It'd be weird if he didn't say something nerdy at the end.

I don't know. I guess I always just thought that people would say something of gravitas in their final seconds of living. Not... you know... references to children's comicbooks.

But maybe that's just me projecting.

I don't know where that scene was supposed to go from there, but the key is that, with reference to the Destiny-machine, to have introduced any religious elements into the film, to have revealed that the universe of the film was one with Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, etc., would've been an utter betrayal. The genius of the film, the source of its powerful force, is that there's no one pulling the strings, there's no one to appeal to, there's no "outside" force or entity "doing" anything to us. It just is what it is.

The only thought I got...

The script did go through several re-writes. There are some romantic allusions that almost feel like a fairy tale romance. "Meeting your one true love" or Harry carrying Clarance like she's some sleeping princess. Maybe the hell segment was a left-over from an earlier iteration of the script when the "fairy tale romance" aspect of the film was more pronounced -- instead of the cyclical, evolutionistic, deterministic vibe that we got.

This is partly why I rejoined the Sherdog movie club, who else can I discuss 60's Italian cinema with?

Hehehe.

You missed our Django discussion, btw

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/sherdog-movie-club-week-105-django.3760985/

Rimbaud82 also talked about The Great Silence in the Serious Movie Discussion thread just a few weeks back.

We even watched a poliziotteschi (my nomination, naturally) -- though it was an unusual and fucked up one -- Live like a Cop, Die Like a Man.

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/s...k-113-live-like-a-cop-die-like-a-man.3790535/

 

[BeardotheWeirdo]

I don't know. I guess I always just thought that people would say something of gravitas in their final seconds of living. Not... you know... references to children's comicbooks.

But maybe that's just me projecting.



The only thought I got...

The script did go through several re-writes. There are some romantic allusions that almost feel like a fairy tale romance. "Meeting your one true love" or Harry carrying Clarance like she's some sleeping princess. Maybe the hell segment was a left-over from an earlier iteration of the script when the "fairy tale romance" aspect of the film was more pronounced -- instead of the cyclical, evolutionistic, deterministic vibe that we got.



Hehehe.

You missed our Django discussion, btw

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/sherdog-movie-club-week-105-django.3760985/

Rimbaud82 also talked about The Great Silence in the Serious Movie Discussion thread just a few weeks back.

We even watched a poliziotteschi (my nomination, naturally) -- though it was an unusual and fucked up one -- Live like a Cop, Die Like a Man.

http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/s...k-113-live-like-a-cop-die-like-a-man.3790535/

That alternate ending that Bullitt posted blew my mind too. It reminded me of the alternate ending to "Valhalla Raising" which made me question everything I thought I understood about the movie.

Your theory makes sense. It must've been for a slightly different version of the script. I don't know how else to process that.

Damn.. I'll have to read the Django thread, thanks for the link. I missed some good ones for sure, when I have more time I look forward to going through some of them. I went to Spain for 3 weeks last fall. I had two goals, to visit Ronda and to visit the Tabernas desert where most of the Spaghetti Westerns are filmed. They turned the old west town where most of the movies were filmed into a theme park, complete with the "mini-Hollywood" old-west section. https://choose-almeria.com/mini-hollywood.html . Sadly I didn't have the time to visit Mini-Hollywood, but I made it within an hour or two's drive from the set. The scenery was amazing, it was like being in a western at times. I really loved it.

There's vast parts of the country that still look much like it did in the western days. I visited this place (El Torcal De Antequerra)

Live Like A Cop, Die Like a Man: I haven't seen that one, the only Deodato movies I've seen are "Raiders of Atlantis" and "The Barbarians"... The Paul brothers (the stars of The Barbarians) were an interesting phenomenon, they were terrible actors and were too bulky to play the action role, but they got work due to their size.

Imdb recommends Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man to fans of Umberto Lenzi… I like his movies, that I've seen.

I considered nominating The Great Silence next time, but I'll probably do a Gian Maria Volonte theme. We'll see.

Thanks for the links

 

[LHWBelt]

I didn't get a chance to watch this unfortunately and all the discussion is basically done so I'm just going to catch up on the next week. Was it good? Perhaps I'll watch it somewhere down the line anyways.

 

[europe1]

Damn.. I'll have to read the Django thread, thanks for the link. I missed some good ones for sure, when I have more time I look forward to going through some of them. I went to Spain for 3 weeks last fall. I had two goals, to visit Ronda and to visit the Tabernas desert where most of the Spaghetti Westerns are filmed. They turned the old west town where most of the movies were filmed into a theme park, complete with the "mini-Hollywood" old-west section. https://choose-almeria.com/mini-hollywood.html . Sadly I didn't have the time to visit Mini-Hollywood, but I made it within an hour or two's drive from the set. The scenery was amazing, it was like being in a western at times. I really loved it.

That's cool. I suppose they must have done some thorough restoration work on those sets. They were re-used constantly. By the 70's they were practically rotting ruins, (thinking of movies like 1973's Fasthand) more fitting for filming ghost stories than Westerns. Some of the places Leone filmed in where actual villages left behind since the pre-modern age (thinking of the white-stone houses).

I've seen are "Raiders of Atlantis"

I've seen that one. More like "Mad Max from Atlantis"

From what I remember it's pretty much a 110% action movie. Pretty alright, in that regard.

and "The Barbarians"... The Paul brothers (the stars of The Barbarians) were an interesting phenomenon, they were terrible actors and were too bulky to play the action role, but they got work due to their size.

I think The Barbarians is great fun. The Paul Brothers had splendid chemistry and where quite the goofballs. The way the main baddy got killed was just inane. He attempts to shoot a crossbow at the brothers but forgets that they severed his triggering-finger when they where kids so he can't pull the mechanism. I mean... WHAT!?<45>

Now for some random imagery.

Imdb recommends Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man to fans of Umberto Lenzi… I like his movies, that I've seen.

Yeah but IMDB recommendations aren't the most... sophisticated. If you've liked a poliziotteschi film in the past then it'll just automatically recommend you any poliziotteschi with an over 6 star rating.

I haven't seen Lenzi's poliziotteschi stuff (the work with Thomas Milan looks really good though) so I can't really comment.

I didn't get a chance to watch this unfortunately and all the discussion is basically done so I'm just going to catch up on the next week. Was it good? Perhaps I'll watch it somewhere down the line anyways.

I think it's a movie that you could come to appreciate.

Honestly, I'd bet you'd like it way more than this week's movie

 

[BeardotheWeirdo]

That's cool. I suppose they must have done some thorough restoration work on those sets. They were re-used constantly. By the 70's they were practically rotting ruins, (thinking of movies like 1973's Fasthand) more fitting for filming ghost stories than Westerns. Some of the places Leone filmed in where actual villages left behind since the pre-modern age (thinking of the white-stone houses).



I've seen that one. More like "Mad Max from Atlantis"

From what I remember it's pretty much a 110% action movie. Pretty alright, in that regard.



I think The Barbarians is great fun. The Paul Brothers had splendid chemistry and where quite the goofballs. The way the main baddy got killed was just inane. He attempts to shoot a crossbow at the brothers but forgets that they severed his triggering-finger when they where kids so he can't pull the mechanism. I mean... WHAT!?<45>

Now for some random imagery.

Yeah but IMDB recommendations aren't the most... sophisticated. If you've liked a poliziotteschi film in the past then it'll just automatically recommend you any poliziotteschi with an over 6 star rating.

I haven't seen Lenzi's poliziotteschi stuff (the work with Thomas Milan looks really good though) so I can't really comment.



I think it's a movie that you could come to appreciate.

Honestly, I'd bet you'd like it way more than this week's movie

I read that it was mostly restored to the town from "the good the bad and the ugly". I mostly just wanted to drive through the desert, there's a 30 acre zoological reserve around the park so the surrounding desert is still exactly like it was in the 60's and 70's. Much of Southern Spain looks the same as it did hundreds of years ago, minus the cars and some other small details. There''s lots of desert still.

Ha. I figured you'd seen "Raiders of Atlantis"

The Paul brothers were charming, I must admit.

I think you'd like Lenzi's movies for sure. I've seen 5 or 6 of them now, and have yet to be disappointed.

 

[LHWBelt]

That's cool. I suppose they must have done some thorough restoration work on those sets. They were re-used constantly. By the 70's they were practically rotting ruins, (thinking of movies like 1973's Fasthand) more fitting for filming ghost stories than Westerns. Some of the places Leone filmed in where actual villages left behind since the pre-modern age (thinking of the white-stone houses).



I've seen that one. More like "Mad Max from Atlantis"

From what I remember it's pretty much a 110% action movie. Pretty alright, in that regard.



I think The Barbarians is great fun. The Paul Brothers had splendid chemistry and where quite the goofballs. The way the main baddy got killed was just inane. He attempts to shoot a crossbow at the brothers but forgets that they severed his triggering-finger when they where kids so he can't pull the mechanism. I mean... WHAT!?<45>

Now for some random imagery.

Yeah but IMDB recommendations aren't the most... sophisticated. If you've liked a poliziotteschi film in the past then it'll just automatically recommend you any poliziotteschi with an over 6 star rating.

I haven't seen Lenzi's poliziotteschi stuff (the work with Thomas Milan looks really good though) so I can't really comment.



I think it's a movie that you could come to appreciate.

Honestly, I'd bet you'd like it way more than this week's movie

I feel like that means your starting to know what i like lol. This weeks movie is free on youtube though so i 4 sure gotta watch it especially since i missed a couple weeks.

 

[Bullitt68]

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.

There are two different charges here. One is that there was no chemistry and the other is that the love story was hastily put together. Regarding the latter, I disagree. I think that the set-up was artful and efficient and tied together perfectly. Regarding the former, however, that's a more interesting conversation. For my part, like I said, Mare Winningham was the only performer in the cast who seemed off to me. She wasn't bad, but she was a little too floopy; I didn't have a hard time buying the character, or the character's interactions, but I did have a hard time buying her as that character. Provided that distinction makes sense, I bought the relationship but I would've liked a better actress in the part who could've sold her side of it as well as Anthony Edwards sold his side.

Then again, having said all that, I do think that she nailed the scene in the mall/clock shop. Everything about and everyone in that scene was tops.

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.

First thing that sprung to my mind: Did you like Cloverfield? If there's one film that I can think of that's similar enough to warrant comparison to Miracle Mile, it's Cloverfield. Of course, unlike in Miracle Mile, in Cloverfield, the characters spend most of the film separated. Still, I'm curious to hear what you thought of the romantic storyline that motivated the action in that film.

As for your specific point, it's funny you should mention that: Originally, Miracle Mile was conceived as the story of an older couple. Then it was altered to be more of a 50/50 split with the young couple and the old couple. In the end, it became the story of the young couple and the old couple merely featured as an interesting subplot. But the stuff with Julie's grandparents, that was closer to the original conception.

And I get where the thought is coming from, and I'm not denying that that would've made for an interesting movie, too, but I do think that the immediacy and the excitement of new young love lends itself more readily to the immediacy and the excitement of potential global catastrophe

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.

@europe1 is the only person ITT who read my essay, isn't he?

I also didn't like LA going full Detroit near the end with the crowded streets full of armed thugs randomly gunning people down

They do the same thing in both The Abyss and Volcano. Do you have the same problem with those films on this count? I'm just trying to get a sense of where you're coming from, because I love the depictions of the disintegration of society in all three.

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.

This is some Men in Black shit. No thanks. I want the whole world going to hell wide-eyed - the better to have your eyes melted when the missiles arrive

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.

All she does is say that "it's possible" that the call was real (not much of a contribution) and point out that four people (who?) in her "DC" network were "in transit to the extreme Southern hemisphere" (according to whom?) which she thinks is "more than just very curious." But who the fuck is she? She could be as nutty as the chick dressed up as a flight attendant practicing her oxygen mask demonstration

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.

This is the source of the film's "diabolical effectiveness," as Roger Ebert put it. It has to go boom...but it can't...can it?

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.

The introduction to the movie recounts a brief history of the universe and life, and the time span over which it occurred, followed by "it took Harry 30 years to find love". There's two ways to take the ending to the introduction, but Harrys statement "A once in a million girl and I miss my chance" indicates that the message is basically "real true love is a very rare thing, much like earth (in the universe)" Existence without love is meaningless, which is why Harry gives up on survival to spend his last hour with Julie, and why Julies parents do the same thing.

That's kind of my issue with the movie though. Perhaps I'm just too practical... probably. With such little time remaining I think I'd just put on my favorite album (full blast) get high and wait for the fireworks. The more the movie progressed the more frustrated I became at how they chose to spend their final hour on earth. But that was the point of the movie I suppose. Harrys actions further illustrated the power of love.

I don't identify with them - like you, I'd spend my final hours/minutes very differently - but I empathize with them and thoroughly enjoy following them on their journey.

The ending was very fitting, beautiful and honest. Our purpose is merely to fuel more life, we're just a tiny part in a massive cycle. The cycle of life, the food chain. In the grand scheme of things even earth and our galaxy will be consumed by bigger neighboring galaxies, and eventually entire universe will implode and start anew with another big bang. Everything is just matter, fuel, an ingredient on the primordial soup that makes up all existence, as we know it.

I think the diner, streetcar/trolley and the big band jazz were there to give it a noir film. I don't agree with @MusterX theory that the trolley is there to represent the past, and that the movie is a comment on the current age. Nuclear and atomic bombs were used in the 40's when streetcars and diners were popular. And by the time Miracle Mile was made the "Russian threat" was dying down.

Nah, dude. It's clearly a past/present thing and the film is 100% about the then-current age of possible nuclear annihilation and fits perfectly in the cycle of '80s doomsday films that gave the decade the nickname of "the doomsday decade."

The only thought I got...

The script did go through several re-writes. There are some romantic allusions that almost feel like a fairy tale romance. "Meeting your one true love" or Harry carrying Clarance like she's some sleeping princess. Maybe the hell segment was a left-over from an earlier iteration of the script when the "fairy tale romance" aspect of the film was more pronounced -- instead of the cyclical, evolutionistic, deterministic vibe that we got.

Are those two - Harry being "destined" to find Julie and humans being "destined" to go boom - really mutually exclusive?

I didn't get a chance to watch this unfortunately and all the discussion is basically done so I'm just going to catch up on the next week. Was it good? Perhaps I'll watch it somewhere down the line anyways.

I'm with europe in thinking that Miracle Mile could be among your favorite club picks. The times when you and I will be aligned in our mutual appreciation for a film will be few and far between, but I honestly think that this is one of those times. You may not love it as much as I do, but I do think that you'd enjoy Miracle Mile, certainly more than you would enjoy/have enjoyed it most club picks.

 

[Zer]

There are two different charges here. One is that there was no chemistry and the other is that the love story was hastily put together. Regarding the latter, I disagree. I think that the set-up was artful and efficient and tied together perfectly. Regarding the former, however, that's a more interesting conversation. For my part, like I said, Mare Winningham was the only performer in the cast who seemed off to me. She wasn't bad, but she was a little too floopy; I didn't have a hard time buying the character, or the character's interactions, but I did have a hard time buying her as that character. Provided that distinction makes sense, I bought the relationship but I would've liked a better actress in the part who could've sold her side of it as well as Anthony Edwards sold his side.

Then again, having said all that, I do think that she nailed the scene in the mall/clock shop. Everything about and everyone in that scene was tops.

When I say the love story is hasty I'm not really criticizing the way it's handled. Obviously they only have so much time to work in. It's tough to have a really fleshed out romance in a 90 minute film that also deals with incoming nuclear apocalypse (Which is one reason I thought it would've worked better as an existing relationship - there's less groundwork to do). I guess my problem is when they fall in love in the end it's very sincere and sweet and it didn't work for me. I could buy it if they were desperate and terrified and out of their minds and saying stupid shit - because in times of imminent disaster you'd probably fall in love with/bang an elephant if it gave you the eyes (And there are elements of this in the film with people making out in the streets instead of becoming raiders) - but they play it as a genuine love between two people who have their heads screwed on.

First thing that sprung to my mind: Did you like Cloverfield? If there's one film that I can think of that's similar enough to warrant comparison to Miracle Mile, it's Cloverfield. Of course, unlike in Miracle Mile, in Cloverfield, the characters spend most of the film separated. Still, I'm curious to hear what you thought of the romantic storyline that motivated the action in that film.

I haven't seen that tbh

As for your specific point, it's funny you should mention that: Originally, Miracle Mile was conceived as the story of an older couple. Then it was altered to be more of a 50/50 split with the young couple and the old couple. In the end, it became the story of the young couple and the old couple merely featured as an interesting subplot. But the stuff with Julie's grandparents, that was closer to the original conception.

And I get where the thought is coming from, and I'm not denying that that would've made for an interesting movie, too, but I do think that the immediacy and the excitement of new young love lends itself more readily to the immediacy and the excitement of potential global catastrophe

I think a young love angle would be fine too, because teenage love is spontaneous and fickle and so it works when you need to do a complete love story stat. I guess Miracle Mile could have been going for that, but Edwards and Winningham are mid-late 20's in the film. If you had like 16-20 year olds there instead I think it'd be a good way to approach the material too.

@europe1 is the only person ITT who read my essay, isn't he?

I admit bro I skimmed the OP to get straight to the opinions so I missed the link to your essay. I still think the gas station / sister situations were way too heavy handed for a quirky love story. I guess they're there to give the whole situation a gravity, but you're about to have a nuclear war and the streets are about to be filled with armed psychopaths. It seemed like wasted time to me.

They do the same thing in both The Abyss and Volcano. Do you have the same problem with those films on this count? I'm just trying to get a sense of where you're coming from, because I love the depictions of the disintegration of society in all three.

This is some Men in Black shit. No thanks. I want the whole world going to hell wide-eyed - the better to have your eyes melted when the missiles arrive

Unfortunately I haven't seen any of the films you're bringing up here so I'm kind of being an asshole. But I've got no problem with society falling apart in times of crisis. People use minor things like protests as an excuse to get violent and start looting so it'd obviously happen if nuclear war was imminent.

I wasn't keen on Miracle Mile's handling of it though and maybe it is just because my other point where I liked the film a lot more when it was the empty streets of LA. Aesthetically it worked a lot better and it made LA very distinct (I was thinking it was kind of Michael Mann-esque in how it treated the city). While it was nighttime it had a ton of atmosphere and it combined well with the cast (All the weirdos come out at night - I think that even gets said in the diner right?). When the riots start and streets become packed and it becomes daylight the film loses a lot of it's qualities. And furthermore, as a nuclear apocalypse film I still think it's a sobering message when it's saying 'shit could all go down in a couple of hours while you're asleep in bed'.

All she does is say that "it's possible" that the call was real (not much of a contribution) and point out that four people (who?) in her "DC" network were "in transit to the extreme Southern hemisphere" (according to whom?) which she thinks is "more than just very curious." But who the fuck is she? She could be as nutty as the chick dressed up as a flight attendant practicing her oxygen mask demonstration

Denise Crosby's character wasn't just bad plot convenience, but badly misplaced as well. Why is a woman like that in a diner at that time with some street cleaners and a tranny in the 80's? She should snorting cocaine in a toilet stall at Dorsia (I know Dorsia's New York but work with me). Plus she does have a natural authority that makes the nuclear threat seem legit. This combined with the innocent people randomly dying and the entire city finding out takes away the potential sting in the ending because you're like 99% sure the bomb is actually going to go off before the final scenes.

This is fun to discuss. Usually on sherdog I only communicate in shitty one liners.

 

[BisexualMMA]

When I say the love story is hasty I'm not really criticizing the way it's handled. Obviously they only have so much time to work in. It's tough to have a really fleshed out romance in a 90 minute film that also deals with incoming nuclear apocalypse (Which is one reason I thought it would've worked better as an existing relationship - there's less groundwork to do).

I made a similar suggestion about an existing romance. Either intact (The Rock, Jurassic Park, Armageddon), or estranged (Die Hard, Independence Day, Cliffhanger). And I've seen it built better from nothing as well in crisis or adventure movies (Speed, Romancing the Stone, even Rambo 2), or even a quasi-romance built from nothing that intentionally falls short of an actual romance (Aliens, 28 Days Later). The commitment to "nerdy" + "true love / the one / fairytale perfect match" just raised the degree of difficulty unnecessarily. Given what a heavy focus the romance was of the movie, it should have landed better. Too bad, because a lot of the movie's tone and atmosphere was really good.

I guess my problem is when they fall in love in the end it's very sincere and sweet and it didn't work for me. I could buy it if they were desperate and terrified and out of their minds and saying stupid shit - because in times of imminent disaster you'd probably fall in love with/bang an elephant if it gave you the eyes (And there are elements of this in the film with people making out in the streets instead of becoming raiders) - but they play it as a genuine love between two people who have their heads screwed on.

Yeah, sticks the landing on some stuff, does a Mark Coleman off the ropes on other stuff.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

but I did have a hard time buying her as that character.

Desirable is what I had a hard time buying her as.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

Goose! I think he's a surprisingly effective leading man, but the female lead, not as much. She just didn't quite mesh well, especially given how well he sold it. She was in Turner and Hooch, right? Her hair was a lot longer but I think I recognize her.

The Tangerine Dream was totally welcomed, and it's not the first movie club pick to get their soundtrack dust sprinkled all over it. We had Thief before this, and I think that's the only one, although if we watched Legend sometime soon then it'd be a trifecta.

Who would backstroke in a vat of dragon urine? How does that come about? Drugs'll end you, son.

Oh hi Tasha Yar. Miracle Mile came out in 88, so she was already on TNG, but I wonder if she had been written out of the show by then.

I like that this film plays out largely in real time once the phone call comes in. There's no break in the action to speak of, which leads to some good tension with the countdown.

The tone changes pretty dramatically, pretty quickly, and I'm on the fence about that. It was a borderline romantic comedy between awkward characters, and then it went straight to a thriller when everything went to hell. I've thought of writing screenplays in the past based on the inverse of this story: A catastrophic event opens the film where two characters that don't know each other fall in love over the course of dealing with it for like 20 minutes to a half hour, and then the remainder of the film focuses on them getting to know each other after they survive, since it was a bit of a rushed romance to begin with. I'm not a rom-com guy but I think it'd an interesting take on the subject.

Again with the runny eggs. What's the deal with that? They're so gross.

I've jumped out of my fair share of moving vehicles before, and the first thing you do is make sure you're not going to break anything valuable on the fall. You know, like your glasses.

So, it was a common trope that firing a gun ignites flammable substances like gas, but we know that's nonsense. Even so, they just killed three people. It's all about survival, but dang.

This may sound callous and maybe I've never experienced the movie love that this guy has, but he just met this girl that day, right? They went on one date, kissed one time, and now he's ready to sacrifice his life to rescue an unconscious girl he just met? Also, I don't know what kind of sleeper she is, but dang, she must have been on some hard sleeping pills to sleep through all that. And he's already willing to tell her he loves her? It's that trauma romance, I guess.

I will always be happy to see Brian Thompson on screen. Yes, HE WAS GLORIOUS in MK:A, and he was a good sneering number 2 in Lionheart, a surprisingly solid villain in Cobra and I even saw him in a recent episode of The Orville. The little "yeah, I'm gay, no big deal" was refreshing to see in the late 80s.

The supporting actors really carry this film. Sure, Goose is good, but the performances of actors we've seen in other stuff like Bubba from Forrest Gump, Kurt Fuller from a lot of things and Denise Crosby too. Fuller's two short scenes really stole the show towards the end.

I like the idea of making the audience wonder if it's real up until the end, and I appreciate that they stuck it out instead of just making it chaos and then everything goes back to normal. The only thing I didn't like was the Superman reference at the end. Sure, he's nerdy and all that, but I can't think of any other references he dropped along the way that would tie it together. I mean I can't say I blame him dropping a reference when he's about to die, if I were about to die in the nuclear apocalypse with my love interest, I'd probably go with "Well, here's to us."

It all came full circle, from looking at museum pieces preserved over the years, to becoming potential museum pieces. But sure, they'll be diamonds. On the one hand it felt a little weak, but on the other I like that they didn't go religious or something uncharacteristic.

8/10 easy. Short and sweet, good performances by almost everyone, and it didn't mess around with anything really superfluous. What would you do if you found out you were going to die in an hour from nuclear armageddon? Probably freak out.

 

[Bullitt68]

I guess my problem is when they fall in love in the end it's very sincere and sweet and it didn't work for me.

Why not, Chandler? Is it because you're missing a heart and/or a soul?

I could buy it if they were desperate and terrified and out of their minds and saying stupid shit - because in times of imminent disaster you'd probably fall in love with/bang an elephant if it gave you the eyes (And there are elements of this in the film with people making out in the streets instead of becoming raiders) - but they play it as a genuine love between two people who have their heads screwed on.

Hmm. I'd go the other way: The fact that it's set-up and established before the disaster is the reason that I do buy it. If they were just frenzied and running around and hooked up amidst the chaos, then I wouldn't have had a fraction of the intensity or commitment to those characters. It's because I watched Harry do his museum shtick, it's because I watched Harry and Julie on the merry-go-round and freeing the lobsters, it's because of that that I'm so invested in the characters and the story.

Off the top of my head, I'm struggling to come up with a movie where it goes the other way, where the romance comes because of/during a disaster. All I can think of is Volcano because that criminally underrated movie rules, but even there, the spark is ignited before Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche save LA from lava.

I haven't seen that tbh

It's awesome. Though, to connect with what you and BisexualMMA were talking about, the relationship in Cloverfield is technically a preexisting relationship and the found footage conceit is such that interspersed with the disaster footage captured on camera is recorded footage of a day the pair spent together.

And then, beyond the context of this particular discussion, Cloverfield is right there with Avatar as my favorite big screen experience. It's a fucking INSANE adrenaline-fueled thrill-ride that maintains its level of awesomeness even on rewatches. Easily one of the GOAT disaster movies and one of the most underrated movies of the last decade.

I admit bro I skimmed the OP to get straight to the opinions so I missed the link to your essay. I still think the gas station / sister situations were way too heavy handed for a quirky love story. I guess they're there to give the whole situation a gravity, but you're about to have a nuclear war and the streets are about to be filled with armed psychopaths. It seemed like wasted time to me.

I was just fucking around. But, if you're interested, the reason I brought up my essay is because I address those scenes in it.

Unfortunately I haven't seen any of the films you're bringing up here so I'm kind of being an asshole.

You haven't seen The Abyss, Volcano, Men in Black, or Cloverfield?

Seriously, they all rule. Volcano and Cloverfield are arguably the two GOAT disaster movies. Men in Black is a fantastic sci-fi buddy cop movie. And The Abyss would probably be among my top five most underrated movies ever made, it's one of Cameron's best efforts and there are scenes that are as good if not better than anything else in Cameron's entire career. Though, whenever I recommend The Abyss, I stress that it's vital that you watch the extended Director's Cut, because if there's one film where it's essential you watch the longer version it's The Abyss.

I wasn't keen on Miracle Mile's handling of it though and maybe it is just because my other point where I liked the film a lot more when it was the empty streets of LA. Aesthetically it worked a lot better and it made LA very distinct (I was thinking it was kind of Michael Mann-esque in how it treated the city). While it was nighttime it had a ton of atmosphere and it combined well with the cast (All the weirdos come out at night - I think that even gets said in the diner right?). When the riots start and streets become packed and it becomes daylight the film loses a lot of it's qualities. And furthermore, as a nuclear apocalypse film I still think it's a sobering message when it's saying 'shit could all go down in a couple of hours while you're asleep in bed'.

I'd say that the movie got the best of both worlds. It got to spend time at night with all the weirdos and it got to wake up the world for a sunny nuclear detonation. If you liked the nighttime atmosphere for the craziness, though, then I'd recommend Scorsese's After Hours if you haven't seen it.

Denise Crosby's character wasn't just bad plot convenience, but badly misplaced as well. Why is a woman like that in a diner at that time with some street cleaners and a tranny in the 80's? She should snorting cocaine in a toilet stall at Dorsia (I know Dorsia's New York but work with me).

First thing I thought of:

This is fun to discuss. Usually on sherdog I only communicate in shitty one liners.

Tell me about it. I post novels on here almost exclusively because it's so fun

I've seen it built better from nothing as well in crisis or adventure movies (Speed, Romancing the Stone, even Rambo 2)

I'd disagree that Rambo II does it better than Miracle Mile, but I can't recall Speed in any kind of detail and I never bothered with Romancing the Stone. Interesting food for thought, though. I could certainly do with a rewatch of Speed

Desirable is what I had a hard time buying her as.

Who would backstroke in a vat of dragon urine? How does that come about? Drugs'll end you, son.

Can't believe it took us this long to talk about Spongy! WTF was his deal? He's there at Julie's complex and he's there at the diner. And when they're evacuating the diner to head out to the airport, the camera pans across the outside of the diner and he's just standing there. He's like a harbinger of the apocalypse, or De Jarnatt's version of the Nietzschean madman running around the market place announcing the death of God.

I like that this film plays out largely in real time once the phone call comes in. There's no break in the action to speak of, which leads to some good tension with the countdown.

QFT.

The tone changes pretty dramatically, pretty quickly, and I'm on the fence about that. It was a borderline romantic comedy between awkward characters, and then it went straight to a thriller when everything went to hell.

Are you still on the fence since initially posting this?

I've thought of writing screenplays in the past based on the inverse of this story: A catastrophic event opens the film where two characters that don't know each other fall in love over the course of dealing with it for like 20 minutes to a half hour, and then the remainder of the film focuses on them getting to know each other after they survive, since it was a bit of a rushed romance to begin with. I'm not a rom-com guy but I think it'd an interesting take on the subject.

First with Zer and now with you, I'm struggling to come up with examples off the top of my head. I must be off my game.

I like the idea of making the audience wonder if it's real up until the end, and I appreciate that they stuck it out instead of just making it chaos and then everything goes back to normal.

QFT.

It all came full circle, from looking at museum pieces preserved over the years, to becoming potential museum pieces. But sure, they'll be diamonds. On the one hand it felt a little weak, but on the other I like that they didn't go religious or something uncharacteristic.

8/10 easy. Short and sweet, good performances by almost everyone, and it didn't mess around with anything really superfluous. What would you do if you found out you were going to die in an hour from nuclear armageddon? Probably freak out.

 

[BisexualMMA]

I'd disagree that Rambo II does it better than Miracle Mile, but I can't recall Speed in any kind of detail and I never bothered with Romancing the Stone. Interesting food for thought, though. I could certainly do with a rewatch of Speed

I do hold Rambo 2 in higher regard than most seem to, but I felt it quite effectively built a relationship between Rambo and Co, and showed what they saw in each other and why.

Romancing the Stone is worth giving a shot. Michael Douglas does a great job. It would probably have been best to give it a shot in the 80s rather than in 2018. But I still think it holds up pretty well.

As for Speed, it's not exactly a romantic tale for the ages. The romance definitely takes a back seat to the other aspects of the film. But as I said above, the relationship is built believably and you get what they see in each other.

I really never got what Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham saw in each other in Miracle Mile.

And given how the film sort of sets a James Cameron tone, it hurts it further to have Reese and Sarah fresh in your mind, or Hicks and Ripley.

 

[moreorless87]

Finally got around to watching this although I admit I'v not gone though most of the thread.

Personally I found it an interesting watch but not quite the sum of its parts. Superficially I do love the after dark setting with a city asleep and mostly shut down, something Mann used so well on Collateral which in retrospect I suspect this film might have been somewhat of an influence on. The idea of making a film with deliberately varying tone is certainly interesting as well, reminded me rather of a Sammo Hung golden harvest film with the tone shifting from the comic to the serious very rapidly. In that respect I think you see the romance very deliberately played up to be as schmaltzy as possible along with the early reveals of the nuclear plot being cheesey lurging the audience into expecting one film before increasingly showing you the very real consequences.

The main negative was I spose really that I'm not sure to what end all of that was towards? was it a romance? was it a warning of nuclear apocalypse? I'm not sure the shifting tone really helps tell either of those better, I found it was really best considered as an entertaining diversion.