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)

Out of Africa (1985)?

I guess that one's in the related genre of westerners going to the third world:

Gorillas in the Mist
The Emerald Forest
The Mosquito Coast

Where the River Runs Black

The Mission

Return to Paradise (8/14/98)
Brokedown Palace (8/13/99)

... in which young Americans on holiday in southeast Asia get hit with drug charges and confront interpersonal and moral dilemmas as they navigate the unfamiliar legal system.

The Beach (2/11/2000) seems in the same vein, even if the plot is a bit different

one time there were three movies that went beyond Beyond Rangoon

Christian Bale and other rebellious teens dance against a historical backdrop:

Newsies (April 1992)
Swing Kids (March 1993)

Was thinking about this yesterday for some reason:

American Fiction (2023)
The Holdovers (2023)

Two movies about curmudgeons disappointed in the world's declining standards. One of them was good.

soref otm 8 years ago about my blue heaven and goodfellas, but look at this banger from 2009, from the keyboard of Myonga Vön Bontee:

Right, since nobody asked:

GoodFellas - Released September 1990
Miller's Crossing - Released September 1990

GF - Italian/Irish/Jewish mobsters
MC - Irish/Italian/Jewish gangsters

GF - Irish protagonist, Jewish wife
MC - Irish protagonist, Jewish paramour

GF - Morrie known for his toupees
MC - Rug Daniels known for his toupee

GF - Henry pukes in the forest while excavating Billy Batts' corpse
MC - Tom pukes in the forest while looking for Bernie's corpse (which he knows isn't there, but never mind)

GF - Tommy shot in face specifically for purposes of disfiguration
MC - Ditto Mink

GF - Morrie sings "Danny Boy" to Henry
MC - Leo listens to "Danny Boy" on his victrola

GF - Karen ineffectually threatens Henry with a gun
MC - Ditto Verna/Tom

GF - Morrie threatened, choked with telephone cord after falling behind on gambling debt
MC - Tom threatened, beaten; same reason

GF - Spider shot in foot, and then shot again, fatally
MC - Anonomous would-be assassin shot in ankle, then shot again, fatally

GF - Lois separated from her lucky hat, sends Henry to retrieve it
MC - Tom separated from his own hat, goes to retrieve it himself

GF - Starring Mike Starr as Frenchy
MC - Starring Mike Starr as Frankie (and "Frankie" = "francophone" = "French-speaking" = Frenchy!)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 01:15

Troubled White People Throw Weddings:

Margot At The Wedding, 2007
Rachel Getting Married, 2008

and in a roundabout way...

Up In The Air, 2009

"I guess that one's in the related genre of westerners going to the third world:

Gorillas in the Mist
The Emerald Forest
The Mosquito Coast"

There was also Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. Which predates the others by a year or so, and it's a technically a period drama, but it comes across as one of those quietly influential films that's mostly forgotten nowadays. e.g. a dark and dead serious take on a fundamentally camp original.

I have to say that Ian Holm looks fantastic in that film. He's ripped! And frequently topless. But then again he was a pretty intense actor. I imagine him doing clenching exercises before every take.

Famously Andie MacDowell's voice was dubbed because she wasn't English. Instead the producers hired Glenn Close, who was born in Connecticut. Which raises the question of whether non-English dubs of the film use MacDowell's local voice actor, or Glenn Close's. Or if they just replace her dialogue with ape grunting.

Louder Than You Think (2023)
Pavements (2024)
Range Life (2025)
...
Slow Century (2002)

The Return (2024) (adaptation of The Odyssey)
The Odyssey (forthcoming) (adaptation of The Odyssey)

Ten years in the making and only Matt Damon survived

Pavements (2024)
Range Life (2025)

not sure I agree with you 100% on your police work there iiuc

Troubled White People Throw Weddings

On closer inspection, this is more precisely "Troubled Protagonists Go To Their Sister's Wedding"

Quirky All-Star Comedy/Satires About An Asteroid/Comet Ending Human Life On Earth:

How It Ends, 2021
Don't Look Up, ''

Remember that time there were two zombie movies?

Rodeo/Rancher Movies:

J.W. Coop, 1971
Junior Bonner, l972
Pocket Money, 1973

Actually the latter one is '72 as well.

Also: The Honkers, 1972

...and then a few years later:

Rancho Deluxe, 1975
Mackintosh and TJ, 1976

'60s Rock stars play down & out versions of themselves (but not as themselves!) in the '80s:

One-Trick Pony, 1980 (Paul Simon)
Comeback, 1983 (Eric Burdon)

Simon was mimicking Woody Allen in this regard, I think

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971)
The Thing with Two Heads (1972)

American History X (1998)
Apt Pupil (1998)

Both about a teenage boy and the older Nazi in his life.

(I was doing Cinematrix just now and trying to figure out why I thought McKellen was in American History X.)

Films about struggling/'difficult' actors turning to drag in order to get work:

Victor/Victoria, 1982
Tootsie, ''

^^both of which where later adapted into modestly successful Broadway musicals.

Brainstorm, A Nightmare on Elm Street - Coupla 1984 films about penetrating people's dreams to kill them in their sleep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRYp3LPL0bc

How to Get Ahead in Advertising,1989
The Icicle Thief, 1989

If I recall correctly, both over the top postmodern farces of consumerism. There’s probably a few more circa ‘89 too, right?

oder doch has it right - that's not the plot of Brainstorm, but it is the plot of Dreamscape. Brainstorm is more like Strange Days, where you can play back recorded brain-tapes of other people's waking experiences... Douglas Trumbull had hoped it would be a showcase for his patented high-frame-rate, high-resolution film format, but this didn't work out so instead the film just changed aspect ratios when it goes to the recorded experiences.

XP

Crazy People (1990) as well.

So UK, Italian, US advert/consumerism farces. Gotta be a French one too, right?

Bless those times when too much advertising on too many TV channels, and eating at McDonalds were the big ethical stresses of the day.

Yep, I was confusing Brainstorm with Dreamscape, thanks

Many xposts

https://i.chzbgr.com/full/9762513408/hE9974E81/r-cists-who-have-hatched-plan-have-white-guy-steal-their-identity-shrek-2-list-like-28281-likes-000

Sex, Drugs & The Dandy Warhols (and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club):

Dig!, 2004
9 Songs, ''

the world's end (2013)
this is the end (2013)
Also: Rapture-Palooza (2013), an Anna Kendrick vehicle in the same vein, co-starring This Is The End's Craig Robinson as The Devil.

― The Greta Van Gerwig (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, October 31, 2018 1:19 AM (six years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also:

It's A Disaster (2013)

Michael Ritchie's Smile (March 20, 1975)
Robert Altman's Nashville (June 11, 1975)

One time there were two movies that used venerable American institutions--the beauty pageant, country music--to make big statements about the country as it headed towards the Bicentennial.

^^Not only that, but they both use the narrative device that begins with everybody coming into town for the event and then explicitly marking each day leading up to and including said event.

IIRC, Nashville started out at United Artists (the studio that made Smile) before moving over to ABC Pictures, who latched on because they wanted the soundtrack album.

Smile doesn't add up to quite as much as Nashville, but I remember appreciating the Bruce Dern character, a middling used-car salesman uncomfortable about joining the local business-guy fraternity. there's some good writing/performing in some of the pageant characters. tons of stuff that's now cringe-inducing though, in the way of mid-70s comedies.

Rats, I was hoping this was the Now You See Me thread

Teen Relationship/Sex Comedies With Loaded Contemporary Rock Soundtracks & An Abortion Plotline:

The Last American Virgin, 1982
Fast Times At Ridgemont High, ''

You could almost add The Bad News Bears to the Smile/Nashville pairing--Little League baseball the institution this time--but a) a year later, and b) I think Ritchie's more concerned with making a big statement about how awful parents can be when it comes to kids' sports than anything about the country.

tbf there was really only the one awful parent in that movie, right? At least when it came to sports. Seemed like a ton of absentee parents across the board, but that's not necessarily a sports thing.

It's been a while since I saw it, but I recall Matthau taking the other coach aside at one point (after realizing he'd lost all perspective himself) and saying something like "We need to stop this"). I took them as stand-ins for all parentsev, en though I don't think Matthau had kids himself.

I can send a typo-free translation of that, if necessary

Lefty Noirs By Blacklisted Directors That Climax With Scenes Of Violent Mob Riots:

The Lawless, 1950
The Sound of Fury/Try And Get Me!, ''

Punk Rock Westerns:

Dudes, 1987
Straight To Hell, ''