I just noticed that for reading, we tend to glom all media in one thread, but for movies and video, we thread each separately. But maybe there are singular experiences that folks have that deserve a note, but maybe not a whole thread for them - that's what this is for.
I'll start...
Last night, my wife and I went up to Concord, NH, to see "Stand by Me: The Film and Its Stars 40 Years Later" - a showing of the film, followed by a live, in-person discussion session with Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, and Wil Wheaton.
Without intending to, we caught the first show in the tour - the stars had been watching along with us backstage for the first time together since they were teens. Their energy was.. amazing and sincere.
Folks who go to later shows in the tour may get more actual information, as they settle in and become a little more practiced at the commentary and Q&A stuff. But, as the first stop, we got their fresh personal energy.
There was quite a moment, when the interviewer noted that Rob Reiner, the director of the film, knew that he had to cast kids whose personalities were very similar to their characters. The actors all agreed. Wil Wheaton mentioned, that yeah, he hated his dad just like Gordy did...
...and the audience laughed.
Until Wheaton mentioned that this wasn't a joke. Apparently, most of the movie's audience didn't know Wheaton's history. Feldman, who has his own bad experiences with parents as a child star, seemed fit to give folks a piece of his mind, in Wheaton's defense, but Wheaton rolled it into a short, but poignant, recognition of abuse, and what made this film different from a lot of the other work he had.
Which amounted to: Rob Reiner was a good egg, who knew what he was doing working with young folks, and he fostered an excellent environment for them to feel cared about and supported, to both work and relax with each other.
I'll start...
Last night, my wife and I went up to Concord, NH, to see "Stand by Me: The Film and Its Stars 40 Years Later" - a showing of the film, followed by a live, in-person discussion session with Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, and Wil Wheaton.
Without intending to, we caught the first show in the tour - the stars had been watching along with us backstage for the first time together since they were teens. Their energy was.. amazing and sincere.
Folks who go to later shows in the tour may get more actual information, as they settle in and become a little more practiced at the commentary and Q&A stuff. But, as the first stop, we got their fresh personal energy.
There was quite a moment, when the interviewer noted that Rob Reiner, the director of the film, knew that he had to cast kids whose personalities were very similar to their characters. The actors all agreed. Wil Wheaton mentioned, that yeah, he hated his dad just like Gordy did...
...and the audience laughed.
Until Wheaton mentioned that this wasn't a joke. Apparently, most of the movie's audience didn't know Wheaton's history. Feldman, who has his own bad experiences with parents as a child star, seemed fit to give folks a piece of his mind, in Wheaton's defense, but Wheaton rolled it into a short, but poignant, recognition of abuse, and what made this film different from a lot of the other work he had.
Which amounted to: Rob Reiner was a good egg, who knew what he was doing working with young folks, and he fostered an excellent environment for them to feel cared about and supported, to both work and relax with each other.