As the son of an illustrator, I grew up appreciating movie poster artists more than probably do most movie geeks. And John Alvin, who passed away last Wednesday, was one of the artists I idolized. Alvin is considered one of the most important poster artists of the past 35 years, and it's no wonder. From E.T. to Gremlins to Blade Runner to The Goonies* to numerous Disney films, his art is as recognizable and iconic as poster design gets. The Smithsonian even named one of his works, for Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise, one of the best posters of the 20th century.

His name may not be as familiar as that of Drew Struzan, another well-known movie poster designer whose work is quite similar. And it isn't that strange to (as I did often in my youth) confuse the work of the two illustrators, both of whom attended the same school as my father, Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, and both of whom worked for many of the same clients and for many of the same films. But there's no doubting that Alvin, who got his start with the poster for Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles and worked on many of Brooks' film campaigns from then on, was a distinctly innovative artist.

In addition to designing original posters for more than 135 films, Alvin produced art for many special edition and anniversary releases, as well as collector's art for popular movies such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean. There's probably a good chance that, if you're a real movie geek, you have something of his hanging up in your room or home. I think the closest thing for me is a Blade Runner t-shirt on which his poster art appears. And, of course, I can see a bunch of his talent clearly when looking over at my DVD collection*.

For a good list of his work, check out the filmography on his Wikipedia page, and for a fairly comprehensive look at images of his posters, check out this fan site.

*I just realized that the poster for The Goonies that I'm most familiar with, and which is on my DVD, is the one by Drew Struzan. Oops.

What sounds like the more highbrow date? Going to see the artsy film I'm Not There while sitting on a couch, eating a pizza and drinking a cold beer, or going to see the mainstream blockbuster National Treasure: Book of Secrets while sitting in a VIP section with reserved, "luxury seating," eating a "sophisticated entree" and drinking an "elegant martini creation?" Both options feature wait service, great picture quality and the benefit of not having any youths around. In their own way, each is equally lowbrow and highbrow, but depending on your definition of those terms (dumb vs. intelligent; cheap vs. expensive), you might have said one or the other. To me, highbrow is intelligent and intelligent is cheap; so I pick the former, which will cost a whole lot less.

The first option was what you might have experienced this weekend at Oakland, California's Parkway Speakeasy (other movie choices were Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and American Gangster). Your movie ticket would have been a mere $6, your personal cheese pizza a fair $8.50 and your pint of Sierra Nevada only $4.50. The second choice was one of this weekend's offerings at the new Lux Level of Randolph, Massachussetts' Showcase Cinema (the other available movie was I Am Legend). The movie ticket cost $21.25 (you definitely bought it online and paid that $1 service charge), the personal cheese pizza about $8 (I don't see anything on the theater's online menu appropriately considered to be "sophisticated entrée", though other Showcase Cinema menus feature items such as "Bourbon Street Steak Medallions") and your Raspberry Mocha Tini was about $9.

The last few weeks, No Country for Old Men has been hanging over my head like an ominous cloud of pressure, taunting me from my to-see list. It's the sort of film that has got film fans and casual moviegoers alike buzzing about it, which means that there's lots of Josh Brolin on the brain. His time with the Coen Brothers is just the perfect ending to what has become the year of Brolin -- Planet Terror, In the Valley of Elah, Chacun son cinéma, American Gangster, and No Country for Old Men. After 22 years in the business, the actor has hit his stride and proved that he's a hell of a lot more than just a young, ripped, heart-breaking Goonie. But still, there's nothing quite like the sweet memory of Brolin's start in one of the most beloved films of the '80s. And what's better to follow it then some zombie butt-kicking? Sit back, chew on some popcorn, and finish off 200-Brolin with The Goonies and Planet Terror.

The Goonies



It was only by mistake that I ever happened upon The Goonies, as I had been all set to see some Ghoulies. Nestled in the theater, I waited for the green demons to pop out of toilets, and after the bathroom scene came and went without a ghoulie in site, I realized that I had the wrong movie. Usually, this would be a big bummer, but fortunately, the mistake led me to a much better film -- one of those rare family flicks that everyone loves.

The story is simple -- a group of kids live in a modest neighborhood that's about to be torn down for a ritzy new golf course. Hoping to save their homes, the Goonies place their hope in the treasure map of the pirate, One-Eyed Willy. They face off against the criminal Fratelli family and set out to find the treasure and change their fate. A young, super-cute Sean Astin stars as Mikey Walsh, and a young, 17-year-old Brolin stars as his older brother -- the original and better Brandon Walsh. Of course, there's also Data, Mouth, Stef, Andy, and everyone's favorite Chunk.

There's lots of clips below, but if you're going to revisit Goonies territory, the best nibble you can get is on the DVD, which brings the whole young cast back for an interactive commentary for the film -- a rare an utterly-enjoyable feat. Other than that...

Second Most Important Nibble: The Truffle Shuffle!

Josh Brolin's Brand gets tied up.

Deleted Scenes from the DVD

Josh Brolin messes around with the Goonies 2 rumor mill.

The special 2-part Cyndi Lauper video for "Goonies 'R' Good Enough" w/ Goonies and WWFE wrestlers.

As a brief coda to an interview about the upcoming No Country for Old Men, Cinematical had the chance to ask Josh Brolin if he had been approached about the rumored Goonies project that's been mused about and hinted at over the past few months. (Sean Astin calls it an "absolute certainty"; noting Astin's post-Rings resume, you might suggest that's wishful thinking on his part.) Brolin, obviously bemused at the line of questioning, stated that he hasn't been contacted -- and offered his thoughts on the possibility. Look for Cinematical's full interview with Brolin about his non-One-Eyed-Willie-related work next week; the full transcript of Brolin's remarks is below.

Cinematical: There's one final thing that my editor basically put a gun to my head and told me to ask you ...

Josh Brolin: ... But it's ultimately your choice ...

Cinematical: ... I know, but I am a little bit curious as well; there have been rumors and rumblings that Warners is going around to the cast of The Goonies and talking to them about getting back together. ...

JB: Haven't heard a word.

Cinematical: If they asked you, are there limits to nostalgia? Or would you go back to it, as a lark?

JB: I don't know; it depends on the story ... I mean, it has nothing to do with (nostalgia); you know, they gave me my break, so that's a huge thing for me. And it's not like Spielberg or Dick Donner are slouches; they're great filmmakers ... I don't know; I haven't heard anything about it. I don't know what those actors are doing; Martha Plimpton, I run into once in a while; I think she's an amazing actress. But would it be smart to do that? Would it take away from the original film, and how great that was? Is it a business decision? Do we feel like we can make some money off it, because it is such a childhood classic? I don't know. Maybe I'll be some great alcoholic homeless character in the boondocks of Astoria, Oregon ... That would be fun.

We've talked ... and talked ... and talked about a potential Goonies sequel, but in the past few months, it's beginning to look more and more like Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner are quietly attempting to put it together. And with the entire original cast! (Well, those who are still alive, mind you.) Both Corey Feldman and Sean Astin recently chimed in, alluding to the fact that they had been approached to work on it. And, now, Empire reports that they've spoken with Jonathan Ke Quan who confirmed that he, along with Jeff Cohen (Chunk), have been made aware of the possible sequel. He says, "We were approached a few months ago by Warner about doing it and asked if we would be interested. They even showed us character designs. It looks very cool."

They have character designs! The good (or bad) news, depending on how you look at it, is that this sequel will be animated and not live action. Empire also mentions that this could be a series, and not just a one-off flick, which doesn't sit too well with me. I don't know, to me Chunk is a little fat kid who loves his ice cream. I can't picture an adult with a child. Of course, I'm sure Chunk's kid will be just like Chunk, and Data's kid will be just like Data, but I would hope this sequel doesn't take anything away from my memories, as a kid, of The Goonies. I usually don't care as much when I hear about all these remakes and sequels, but they're f**king with one of my all time favorite movies here. To me, this is big -- animated, live action, puppets -- however the hell they decide to make it. I mention the parents and kids storyline because that's the one they seem to be leaning toward; the original cast is all grown up with children who go on an adventure of their own. What do you think of all this? And if you had a choice, would you want a straight-up live-action sequel, an animated sequel or an animated series?

There aren't too many movies that necessitate sequels. Unless a movie is part of a pre-proposed series or is an adaptation of a series of books, it should probably be able to stand alone. But a lot of sequels come from movies that are perfect by themselves -- sometimes the sequels compliment nicely; sometimes they are easily ignored; occasionally they actually take away from the previously regarded original.

It isn't often that a movie screams out for a sequel, but I think I've come up with seven that at least whisper a request for one. Two actually have source sequels that they would be adapted from. One has a lot of history to mine material from. Three of them have been discussed at length at different points in time by makers of the original(s). The problem is that none of these sequels is likely to ever grace your DVD player let alone your local theater. For whatever reason, they simply have too much against them in the minds of studio execs. For now, though, we can dream.

1. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Even with the incredible cast and the surprisingly faithful-enough script, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was not the epic that I was hoping for. It also wasn't the blockbuster that Disney was hoping for. The filmmakers, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (aka Hammer and Tongs) and the necessary actors had signed on for the sequel, to be adapted from Adam's follow-up, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but it appears to be dead in the water. Despite my few reservations with the first film, I would love to see the sequel, as well as the rest of the series (they could end before The Salmon of Doubt, I guess). I remember being bored with some of the prehistoric Earth sequences in Restaurant, but I think they'd make for great cinema. In any event, I think Martin Freeman and Mos Def were a great duo in the original, and they alone should have been propelled to stardom following its release. Maybe they can appear in something else together.

It's rare these days to find a classic comedy/adventure that hasn't suffered from either an attempted reboot or a bad sequel. Yes, The Goonies will forever hold a place on my ever-evolving top ten greatest films of all time list, and I'm damn proud of it. I grew up with it, watched the pic more than 100 times and, till this day, still occasionally entertain my friends with a drunken version of Chunk's "Truffle Shuffle." Is that wrong? For as far back as I can remember, talk of a sequel has always existed. Luckily, Steven Spielberg, Richard Donner, Chris Columbus and Warner Bros. never let that happen. However, we now live in a sequel-fied society and, unfortunately, anything is possible.

Case in point: Donner (who directed Goonies) recently told EW that, while a Goonies sequel is currently not in the works, they are planning a Goonies musical. As Charlie Brown would say, "Arghh!" Donner notes, "Steven [Spielberg] and I have discussed it [the musical], and it's something that I'm fairly passionate about right now." That's wonderful, but are the fans just as passionate? I can almost see it now -- halfway through the second act, Mikey breaks out in a solo rendition of "Those Are Other People's Wishes." But would a musical lead to a big-screen sequel or -- dare I say it -- a reboot? Says Donner, "We never had a script. We tried a couple of times and every time we did, we realized, 'What are we doing?'" Exactly. Keep it that way. Though if the musical finds a tremendous amount of success, it will be hard for Warners to ignore the possibilities ...

Well, the big hullabaloo in town this week would have to be the Castro's premiere of The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, based on the faux-moir by J. T. Leroy. For those of you who don't follow San Francisco's literary scene – which is probably all of you – The SF Chronicle had a nice piece about how drugged-up, ex-hustler, super-shy, HIV-positive author and celeb J. T. LeRoy turned out to be a big fat fraud. (And really, is HIV-positive status something that can be used as a character detail? That's, uh, not cool, as the kids say.) I haven't seen The Heart is Deceitful yet, because I know it's loaded with cross-dressing and drug use and sexual depravity and, like you, I go to the movies to escape from work.

If you're not feeling fraud-a-liscious, the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival – whose acronym is two letters shy of being a James Bond '60s bad-guy group – is closing up in San Jose, including a screening of the witty and fun Red Doors. Ask Burt Bacharach for directions. The Red Vic has King Kong, in case you can't get enough of an expensive, sad-looking monkey; finally, The Clay has a midnight showing of, God help us, The Goonies as part of their actually-quite-good Midnight Movie series. Remember folks: The Goonies is just a gateway film; soon, you'll be watching Explorers. …

See you around the Bay,

J.