FILM 1840: THE INSTITUTE

FILM 1840: THE INSTITUTE

A documentary on the Jejune Institute, a mind-bending San Francisco phenomenon where 10,000 people became "inducted" without ever quite realizing what they'd signed up for.

(Find more information (preferably after you’ve watched the documentary as it gives away a lot) here: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/jp54ky/game-or-cult-the-alternate-reality-of-the-jejune-institute)

FILM 1788: PSYCH: THE MOVIE

FILM 1788: PSYCH: THE MOVIE

TRIVIA: Steve Franks has another five stand-alone TV movies planned.

Timothy Omundson suffered a stroke a few weeks before shooting began as a result only appear briefly as Carlton Lassiter. If the sequels happen, he will probably have a much larger presence.

After the decision was made to go ahead without Timothy Omundson, Steve Franks and James Roday "camped out" in a restaurant booth and rewrote the script in 72 hours.

The villain's title, The Thin White Duke, was their way of paying their respects to the late David Bowie. They were fans of Bowie's but were never able to get him on the show.

When Shawn and Gus discover the document on the computer regarding Juliet O'Hara, Shawn makes a joke that Juliet would never be in a Hallmark movie. The actress who plays Juliet, Maggie Lawson, actually did appear in a Hallmark movie entitled "My Favorite Wedding."

The Pony in a Onesie character was voiced by S.E. Hinton, the author of The Outsiders, Rumble Fish and Tex, 3 classic 80s movies.

Shawn's character wears a #TeamGrimmie shirt in honor of Christina Grimmie (who had tragicly passed away by a gunshot wound at her concert meet & great). Christina, and her best friend Sarah, were the biggest fans of the Psych tv series, and eventually had befriended the cast, so the main stars decided to honor her in the film.

At one point, Shawn tells Gus to stick to the road, keep clear of the moors, and beware of the moon. This is the same advice given to Jack and David in An American Werewolf in London. Not only was that movie spoofed in an earlier episode, but director John Landis also directed three early episodes of Psych.

FILM 1619: BIG HERO 6

TRIVIA: According to Scott Watanabe, the movie is set in an alternate future where after the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco was rebuilt by Japanese immigrants using techniques that allow movement and flexibility in a seismic event. After the city was finished being rebuilt, it was renamed San Fransokyo due to it being a city with Japanese and American architecture combined.

The production team watched videos of fire ants as an inspiration of the movement of the Microbots.

In order to create the thousands of civilians living in San Fransokyo, the production team invented a program called the "Denizen Factory", which allowed them to build a whole series of background characters that each have a distinct design.

Over 200 different signs were created for the advertisements of San Fransokyo.

The inflatable, vinyl, truly huggable design of Baymax is inspired by 'soft robotics' research at Carnegie Mellon University.

The model of the design of Baymax's eyes is a Japanese traditional bell which is called Suzu. Don Hall, the director, says that he got an inspiration when he visited a temple in Japan.

One of the few Disney Films that is partially owned by both Pixar and Marvel.

This is Alan Tudyk's third Disney movie in a row (Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and Frozen (2013)).

During the first twenty minutes of the movie, Tadashi's breathing is also animated.

Fred's father, seen in the family portrait the six heros walk past upon first entering Fred's house, is based on Stan Lee (who has had a cameo in every Marvel movie to date).

FILM 1556: OUT OF THE PAST

TRIVIA: Robert Mitchum told Roger Ebert he smoked so much, that when the camera was rolling on this film and Kirk Douglas offered him a pack and asked, "Cigarette?", Mitchum, realizing he'd carried a cigarette into the scene, held up his fingers and replied, "Smoking." His improvisation saved the take, and they kept it in the movie.

By all accounts, it was obvious that an undeniable tension developed between Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum early on during the filming. Certainly the acting styles of the two men could not have been more different. Mitchum's relaxed, laconic manner contrasted with the aggressive, grandstanding Douglas. In the first scenes to be shot with the two actors, Douglas attempted some scene stealing by manipulating distracting props, such as swinging a key chain or flipping a coin, George Raft style. Jacques Tourneur saw through these ploys and put a stop to them. For his part, Mitchum would retaliate by making faces when the camera was behind his head, so as to throw off Douglas' reaction shots. Eventually the one-upmanship faded, and the two let their natural styles compliment each other.

Jane Greer recalled that the laconic Robert Mitchum projected an equally cavalier attitude off camera. She got the impression that he came to the set unprepared, in order to give a more spontaneous performance. She explained, "I remember him saying 'What are the lyrics?' to the script person. 'I never know the lyrics,' he'd say, and she would give him the lines. I said, 'You don't learn your lines beforehand?' and he'd said, 'Naah.' Gosh, I learned mine a week ahead of time. I thought that might be part of why he seemed so much more spontaneous, why he was so easy and underplayed. I decided I'd do that, not be letter perfect. So I tried learning my lines under the dryer in the morning. I hoped I'd look as though I was thinking. But I blew take after take, and he was letter perfect. Well, I figured out later that, of course, he knew the lines."

Filming got off to a rocky start with a near-fatal plane accident at the Bridgeport, California airport landing field. The pilot, accompanied by Robert Mitchum, a studio accountant and an assistant to executive Walter Duff, realized his brakes didn't work when they touched down, causing the plane to crash through a fence, over a ditch, and through an outhouse before coming to a stop. Although the two men in the back seat were knocked unconscious, Mitchum and the pilot were not hurt. Typical of Mitchum's nonchalant attitude, he quickly crawled out of the wreckage, dusted off his clothes and thumbed a ride into town to begin filming.

On November 14, 1987, Robert Mitchum was the guest host on Saturday Night Live (1975), broadcast from the NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York. One of the sketches he participated in was a black-and-white spoof of the film called "Out of Gas." The sketch featured an unbilled guest appearance by none other than Jane Greer.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

FILM 1449: VERTIGO

TRIVIA: Uncredited second-unit cameraman Irmin Roberts invented the famous "zoom out and track in" shot (now sometimes called "contra-zoom" or "trombone shot") to convey the sense of vertigo to the audience. The view down the mission stairwell cost $19,000 for just a couple of seconds of screen time.

The film was unavailable for decades because its rights (together with four other pictures of the same period) were bought back by Alfred Hitchcock and left as part of his legacy to his daughter. They've been known for long as the infamous "Five Lost Hitchcocks" amongst film buffs, and were re-released in theatres around 1984 after a 30-year absence. The others are The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Rear Window (1954), Rope (1948), and The Trouble with Harry (1955).

When Kim Novak questioned Alfred Hitchcock about her motivation in a particular scene, the director is said to have answered, "Let's not probe too deeply into these matters, Kim. It's only a movie."

There is a 25 year age difference between James Stewart and Kim Novak, who were 49 and 24 respectively when the film was shot in 1957.

The Empire Hotel where James Stewart eventually finds Kim Novak is (as of 2009) the Hotel Vertigo (formerly the York) located at 940 Sutter St. in the heart of San Francisco. Novak's character lived in Room 501, which still retains many of its aspects captured in the film.

Alfred Hitchcock was embittered at the critical and commercial failure of the film in 1958. He blamed this on James Stewart for "looking too old" to attract audiences any more. Hitchcock never worked with Stewart, previously one of his favorite collaborators, again.

Alfred Hitchcock reportedly spent a week filming a brief scene where Madeleine stares at a portrait in the Palace of the Legion of Honor just to get the lighting right.

Alfred Hitchcock had originally wanted to use his now-famous Vertigo zoom in Rebecca (1940), but due to lack of technology at that time he couldn't do it. The technique was inspired by a time when Hitchcock had fainted during a party.

Costume designer Edith Head and director Alfred Hitchcock worked together to give Madeleine's clothing an eerie appearance. Her trademark grey suit was chosen for its colour because they thought it seemed odd for a blonde woman to be wearing all grey. Also, they added the black scarf to her white coat because of the odd contrast.

This film is often credited (blamed) for creating or popularizing the misconception that vertigo stands for fear of heights. For the record, the proper name for that condition is "Batophobia", whereas vertigo is "a sensation of whirling and loss of balance, associated particularly with looking down from a great height" (Oxford Dictionary).

FILM 1426: FEARLESS

TRIVIA: The airplane crash site was recreated in a field in Northern California and was exactly modeled on a crash that occurred outside Sioux City in Iowa in 1989. The "accident" was reported by several flights flying over the scene. The field was first planted with 85 acres of corn which was then bulldozed to recreate the gouge that a crashing plane would have made. The adjoining cotton field was also purchased to make the crash appear bigger. 140 extras were employed for the scene along with 40 members of the Kern County and Bakersfield Fire Department. One of the town's main roads was closed for a week, and the local electricity company was persuaded to knock down several pylons and snarl up half a mile of electric cable to create a scene of almost total devastation. The crash site took a total of 10 days to prepare, and included throwing 600 suitcases and their contents (all items purchased from local thrift stores) liberally around the site. In total, the recreation cost $2 million.

To help him get to grips with his character, Max, Jeff Bridges spent some time with his good friend Gary Busey who, years before, had been in a severe motorbike accident which had put him into a coma.

Ironically, director Peter Weir claimed that making this film cured him of his fear of flying.

One of star Jeff Bridges' favorite films of his own that he has appeared in.