one time there were two magician movies

what's up with that

http://i2.irishmirror.ie/incoming/article6732294.ece/ALTERNATES/s1023/Hugh-Grant-MAIN.jpg

is that randall flagg? shit

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)
Observe & Report (2009)

There is I think a particular term for simultaneous but separate invention/conception, but I can't think of what it is. Anyone?

A Bug's Life (1998)
Antz (1998)

im pretty sure the generic Blart was probably more enjoyable than O&R

Deep Impact
Armaggedon

both 1998

Mirror Mirror (2012)
Snow White and The Huntsman (2012)

does dantes peak (1996) volcano (1997) count?

plausible deniability maybe

or wait the opposite of that

Turner & Hooch (1989)
K-9 (1989)

haha my summer camp took us to see K-9 on a field trip taht year.

^yes indeed that is the paradigmatic example

The end of the 80s also had a lot Vietnam movies come out in rapid succession, but that doesn't really fit squarely into what we're going for here.

Capote (2005)
Infamous (2006)

An American Werewolf In London and The Howling and Wolfen (1981)

My Dinner With Andre and Bustin' Loose (1981)

hercules
the legend of hercules

!!

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/61/72/1f/61721fabca5666be7051ae77eab44f43.jpg

First Daughter (2004)
Chasing Liberty (2004)

Hoop Dreams
Poop Dreams

i always mix those up

Tombstone (1993)
Wyatt Earp (1994)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DuelingWorks/Film

i seen one of the magician movies it was fucken stupid i can only imagine how fucken stupid the other magician movie is with alfie zulu in it

They're both okay, but the twist in the Edward Norton one is easy to guess, and since half of the movie rests on that "shocking" revelation, it kinda diminishes it. Whereas the the two major twists in the Christian Bale/Hugh Jackman one genuinely come out of the left field, which makes it more fun to watch, if not super memorable.

Can't remember the Norton one, but I guessed the Prestige twist and it didn't affect my enjoyment of it. Also I didn't know a certain cameo was going to be in it so that really made my day.

the prestige was so good.

There was even a third magician movie around the same time, by the peep show guys

Another borderline case:

The Truman Show (1998)
EDTV (1999)

Probably much too far apart to count but...
Porridge (1979)
Escape to Victory (1981)

Robin hoods

Famously there was a British Robin Hood film that ended up being completely eclipsed by prince of thieves

Xpost!

Feels weird to include that because there have probably been years when there have been like 7 Robin Hood films produced

War of the Worlds (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/
The War of the Worlds (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425638/
War of the Worlds (2005) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449040/

the first one is the Tom Cruise one, the second is the english version set at the same time as the book, the third is a knock-off rushed out on video ahead of the Cruise version to confuse people into buying it.

The General (1998)
Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)

Both based on Irish gangster Martin Cahill

I thought it was normal to have certain themes be popular in certain years. Not sure what determines it , unless it is just competition within the industry. Or industries, do publishing houses do similar?

a second time there were two magician movies

the incredible burt wonderstone (2013)
now you see me (2013)

Because they were such anomalies at the time (two psycho-killer movies today wouldn't be notable), and because of the stature of the two directors, Psycho and Peeping Tom, both 1960.

I watched the British Robin Hood movie a few years ago, and it was really quite good, certainly better than Prince of Thieves. Possibly even the best Robin Hood feature film since the Errol Flynn era?

i kind of feel like

things to do in denver when you're dead (1995)
the usual suspects (1995)

should qualify but there were so many, so many tarantino knockoffs produced in the 90s that at least two of them would necessarily (emphasis) had to have bryan ferry, with his floppy, insouciant hair and sharply, elegantly disarrayed suits, as a former gangster trying to go straight but he's dragged back into the crimeworld for one last job to save his flailing enterprise but it goes disastrously wrong with an ensemble cast and interpersonal quibbling and banter that i'm not really sure if it does.

Another one that's maybe a bit of a stretch but I think fits: the two grand-diva movies of 1950, Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve.

California Split and The Gambler, 1974.

Catch-22 and MASH, 1970--not just war films, but a very specific kind of Strangelove absurdist black comedy.

Also both given a "not Vietnam, but we're really talking about Vietnam" gloss by their directors.

The Prestige has Bowie-as-Tesla in it
The Illusionist is a bad movie but has Philip Glass' best score ever

bridget jones' diary (2001)
legally blonde (200))

a blonde zaftig protagonist shows up at a party dressed in a bunny costume because they thought it was a costume party but it wasn't, but she wins the day despite things

The Illusionist wasn't even the best movie named The Illusionist in recent times

legally blonde also 2001, not 200)

in that vein, i did see Vanishing Point and The Warriors closely together recent and thought the dj aspect was similar (Warriors was a bit later - '79)

I worked for the person who came up with the slogan "soup is good food." Research indicated that mothers had underlying anxiety about feeding children meals that had not been prepared from scratch; Campbell's play was to alleviate this using the simplest, most direct possible language. The underlying lesson, I think, was that sometimes a lack of cleverness is a type of cleverness.

whoa i remember being told that i went to college with the offspring of the person who invented this slogan but i have no recollection who that person was. what a strange intersection!

I think that a lot of that work was done by Molly M. at Porter Novelli.

The Warriors maybe pairs up better with The Fog (1980).

Might be stating the obvious, but I think radio DJs were just a bigger part of life back then, with a stronger presence as individuals, and (correct me if I'm wrong) more actual time of their voice on the air saying stuff. They were surely more prominent as local figures, and the intimacy of them being in everybody's cars and ears can't be discounted. So it makes sense that there'd be a lot of them in movies, just like having a lot of newspaper reporters, or politicians, or local business owners.

This is a pretty loose one, but in the early '70s there were several movies about or involving on on some important level radio personalities/DJs:

WUSA, 1970
Vanishing Point, 1971
Play Misty For Me, 1971
The King of Marvin Gardens, 1972
American Graffiti, 1973

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain

There's also a low-budget Canadian entry in that same vein and timeframe: "Slipstream", starring Luke Askew as the DJ

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipstream_(1973_film)

And the movie FM, now only remembered because Steely Dan wrote the theme song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316mipUnA-M

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM:_The_Original_Movie_Soundtrack

The Warriors and The Wanderers work together too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBrRbcQuNl8

Dana Gould on "Soup is good food"

FM lines up a little with WKRP on TV (both 1978).

There's certainly an analog in the characters:

Micheal Brandon/Gary Sandy
Martin Mull/Howard Hesseman
Cleavon Little/Tim Reid

I remember seeing some comments about how that was merely coincidental, that radio stations of the era were all like that, with a burnout DJ, a hip Black guy, the frustrated program director etc.

Another one that lines up with FM is American Hot Wax, Floyd Mutrux's 1978 biopic of Alan Freed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLAx5lIqfsg

Not commercially available.

Two junkie movies in 1971: Panic in Needle Park and Born to Win.

― clemenza, Saturday, March 26, 2016 5:07 PM (eight years ago)

Dusty and Sweets McGee as well.

American Hot Wax probably could lineup with The Buddy Holly Story (also 1978).

...and also Dead Man's Curve, a 1978 TV biopic with Richard Hatch & Bruce Davison as Jan & Dean.

Old army buddies plan & execute a major heist in 1960:

Ocean's 11
The League of Gentlemen

Europa Europa (1990, Agnieszka Holland)
Europa (1991, Lars von Trier)

This confused the hell out of me at the time

Cannonball! and The Gumball Rally, 1976

The former is a race from LA to NYC, while the latter is one from NYC to Long Beach.

Movies about women getting across LA by any means necessary to attend a party: Izzy Gets The F*ck Across Town, 2017; and Booksmart, 2019.

On that tip, movies featuring a supporting role for Molly Gordon and are about young people in LA doing whatever to attend a party : Booksmart and Good Boys, 2019

This confused the hell out of me at the time

It was released in Australia and the US as “Zentropa” for this reason

Movies telling fictionalized stories about the business of American Pop Music in the '60s (complete with retro soundtracks composed by All-Star rosters of contemporary & classic talent): Grace of My Heart and That Thing You Do!, 1996.

Didn't realize That Thing You Do! is so old, I would have guessed mid-oughts

It's that old. Gave a nice little boost to Fountains of Wayne, whose debut was released the same week as the movie.

Don't forget Backbeat, which I genuinely enjoyed at the time in part because of 1) Dulli and 2) Beatles and 3) Sheryl Lee

i guess that wasn't fictionalized though
still it was enjoyable and was 60s-based

Backbeat is close enough.

Also qualifying, albeit in a very roundabout way, is Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Velvet Goldmine also linking up to Almost Famous (2000).

Ralph Bakshi’s American Pop (1981) epitomizes this. It also speed-runs through HUAC, the Vietnam/Amerucan War, the Bolshevik Revolution, and cocaine chic. I love it, although many find it problematic

Actually, Breaking Glass (1980) fits as well

oh god. Biden just confused Friends with Benefits (2011) with No Strings Attached (2011) pic.twitter.com/RC27GPIl2R

— nicole boyce (@nicolewboyce) July 12, 2024

XP Another late '90s Classic Rock one: Still Crazy (1999)

Hip Hop satires: CB4 & Fear of A Black Hat, 1993

Comedic African-American Super Hero Movies: Meteor Man, 1993 and Blankman, 1994

one time there were two concept albums about amelia earhart (Public Service Broadcasting, Laurie Anderson)

Louder Than You Think (2023, 2024)
Pavements (2024)

Right now in the US there are two different TV ads (Rooms To Go and a car company) running on microwave rotation featuring "Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior. I literally just saw them in a commercial break separated only by a political ad.

It's good to see them getting paid! Seems like they said hello and waved goodbye some time ago.

I literally just saw them in a commercial break separated only by a political ad.

don't don't don't don't stop the beat

microwave rotation?

I get it

Heh

Movies about the goings-on in and around major events in Rock history that happened in New York City: American Hot Wax & I Wanna Hold Your Hand, 1978

NYC/Brooklyn, actually

Turn of the Screw (2020)
A woman joins a production of The Turn of the Screw the night before opening night, and her first dress rehearsal is more real than she is comfortable with.

The Turning (2020)
A young governess is hired to look after an orphaned girl, but the return of the girl's problematic brother uncovers secrets from their past. A modern take on Henry James' novella "The Turn of the Screw."

The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose.

(there's an Opera North version dated 2020 as well listed under Henry James in imdb)

Two time-travel slasher movies: Totally Killer on Amazon Prime and Time Cut on Netflix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZkQUgrQ3Ik

Movies where Judd Hirsch is related to Michelle Williams: Showing Up & The Fabelmans, 2022.

Actually, the former is from 2023.

Punk Rock Girl Movies:

Out of The Blue, 1980
Times Square, 1980
Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, (mostly filmed in 1980) 1982

the latter could pair with Starstruck - a little more New Wave i guess, but still