Robin Williams movie series
August 17, 2014 8:16 AM - Subscribe

I wanted to know if people would be interested in a Robin Williams retrospective; given his recent death, it might be nice to review his work, discuss, and generally appreciate what he gave the world through his work.

People can propose what should be included, but I would like to see the following and discuss:

- Popeye (1980)
- The World According to Garp (1982)
- Dead Poet's Society (1989)
- Awakenings (1990)
- The Fisher King (1991)
- Hook (1991)
- Good Will Hunting (1997)
- What Dreams May Come (1998)
- One Hour Photo (2002)
- World's Greatest Dad (2009)

I prefer no Patch Adams nor Mrs. Doubtfire - YMMV.

Possibly Insomnia (2002) as well?

I don't recall Seize the Day (1986) AT ALL. Worth a re-watch?

So - what do people think? I suggest we assign one poster who is responsible for each movie, once we get it all sorted out, if there's enough interest.

We'll need to schedule of course - I just saw this post regarding scheduling and organizing.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (76 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
FYI, Horror Club already has One Hour Photo scheduled for this Wednesday.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:40 AM on August 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


We haven't yet run into a situation where more than one club was doing a film separately. Not sure how we'd do that. Two threads? Or join in later on the existing thread? Or we could coordinate. Though I see you were planning on being chronological.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:53 AM on August 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


Moscow on the Hudson and Good Morning, Vietnam were huge, cultural touchstone-type hits at the time of their release. I'm not sure how streamable they are or aren't, but I think both would be important to include, depending on availability.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:07 AM on August 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


I would imagine that joining in the existing thread would work? I was under the assumption that FanFare threads, like music threads, never close.

I'd like to see Mrs. Doubtfire included in the retrospective.
posted by troika at 11:32 AM on August 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


I would also love to see Good Morning, Vietnam added. It was extremely popular when I was in hs to the point we quoted the movie to each other. (One of the few non-python movies to be quoted regularly.)

Also, does anyone remember the Survivors with Walter Matthau? I was going to seek that one out. I'd love to get it included.
posted by miss-lapin at 11:50 AM on August 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


I meant to include Good Morning, Vietnam, great that others spotted that - also, I forgot COMPLETELY about Moscow on the Hudson, that was big at the time, thanks for that. We certainly should include those two.

Yes, let's include Mrs. Doubtfire, I think that's a biggie and even though I'm not keen others would be, so in it goes!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:55 AM on August 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


Would anyone like to discuss Patch Adams?
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 12:10 PM on August 17, 2014


I would imagine that joining in the existing thread would work?

I agree; makes more sense than double-posting a movie. Is this series deliberately chronological? If not, it'd make sense to kick off with the Horror Club cross-over.

The Birdcage is another one that got mentioned fairly frequently in the MeFi obit post.

Aladdin was a very definitive RW performance -- and although everyone remembers it as manic improv wisecracking there's also a strong undercurrent of sadness in the Genie's situation. (I would pick it over Hook because, well, Hook is awful.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:05 PM on August 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


HOOK IS GREAT SHUT UP!!

Seriously, I love Hook. I also weirdly love Toys but doubt it holds up (those both came out at what was apparently a formative time for me).
posted by leesh at 5:04 PM on August 17, 2014 [4 favorites]


I love Hook, too.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:08 PM on August 17, 2014 [2 favorites]


To be frank, we can include The Birdcage but I thought every (15 second, admittedly) clip I saw of Williams seemed like a gay stereotype. HOWEVER at the time of its release - it may have not been seen as such! So there's that.

Plus I have yet to see the whole movie - and I guess I really should - this FanFare series, if it happens would be a perfect prompt for me to do so. But the few seconds I've seen make me a bit uncomfortable, I'll admit. /notBIRDCAGIST
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:11 PM on August 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


I definitely vote for adding Insomnia -- I'd love to see it again, as I recall it was pretty terrific. I'd also be interested in seeing Moscow on the Hudson again. (By the way, for anyone who lives in L.A.: Arclight Hollywood will be screening Garp on Tuesday night and Good Will Hunting on Thursday. I'm planning on being there Tuesday.)
posted by scody at 7:05 PM on August 17, 2014 [1 favorite]


Wish I could see Garp on the big screen!

Okay let's talk scheduling and then we'll get down to assigning movies.

I was thinking a Robin Williams movie every weekend may be too much - so a bi-weekly Robin Williams movie schedule sounds good to me. Thoughts?

Now is the time to pipe up - don't be shy! (Or you can memail me with your "vote" if you are shy.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:45 AM on August 18, 2014


All the praise of Robin Williams everywhere I've read in the last week and I have yet to encounter even ONE mention of Jakob the Liar.

So I guess I'm suggesting Jakob the Liar.
posted by grubi at 10:00 AM on August 18, 2014 [1 favorite]


Noted.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:15 AM on August 18, 2014


I have fond memories of "The Survivors" with Walter Matthau. I downloaded it but haven't gotten around to rewatching it yet.
posted by wabbittwax at 10:20 AM on August 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


Maybe we should make this the "Robin Williams movie club" officially, since (if I understand it correctly) it would mean we could organize on this wiki and do some scheduling.

I'll take a look at the wiki later tonight to learn more.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:20 AM on August 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


To be frank, we can include The Birdcage but I thought every (15 second, admittedly) clip I saw of Williams seemed like a gay stereotype. HOWEVER at the time of its release - it may have not been seen as such! So there's that.

The Birdcage showed up on Netflix streaming last night, and I ended up watching it. All the characters are extremely stereotypical (including the arch-conservative in-laws), but I think that's part of the point. I think that stereotypes (and that they dehumanize) are a theme of the movie and played around with in a self-aware way -- so the movie itself, at least to me, didn't feel homophobic. BUT Robin Williams's character makes a handful of references to killing himself, which were like punches to the gut each time and that was probably the most difficult part of the movie for me to take. So yeah, it's an OK movie, but ultimately, it's a remake of La Cage aux Folles, and La Cage aux Folles is (imo, obvs not objective) better, and it's kind of blah and soft in the way that lots of remakes are blah and soft. What I'm saying is, if people want to include it, it would be easy to do, since it's streaming on Netflix, and it's probably interesting to talk about, albeit not necessarily in this RW Movie Club context. I'm OK with or without including it myself.

I DEFINITELY vote to include both Hook and Aladdin. I love them both to PIECES! Good Morning Vietnam and Mrs. Doubtfire are such biggies that I think they should be included, too. Not my cup of tea, but they were both so "of a moment" in time that I think they're both worth it on that alone, and they were both huge points in RW's career. I also think that we should include Moscow on the Hudson and Insomnia -- the first for the selfish reason that I haven't seen Moscow on the Hudson and now I want to, and the second because it will be fun to compare Insomnia with One-Hour-Photo.

How would anyone feel about including one or more of RW's stand up specials? I haven't seen any in years, but would be interested in watching (or rewatching) some. They're not really movies, but they're not really TV, either -- I think they're more in the "movie" category than the "tv show" category since they're one-offs? Not that I would be opposed to including some TV in the schedule, too, like a few episodes of Mork and Mindy or something, but that's probably outside the scope of this?
posted by rue72 at 1:29 PM on August 18, 2014 [2 favorites]


Alright I've signed up with the Metafilter Wiki so I can learn how to... wiki. People say it's easy but there's still a learning curve and I have some other stuff I want to do.

I hope to get a wiki thing officially up in the next few days and will update this space with a proposed Viewing Schedule - keep checking this thread!

ALSO ======> I'm still looking for feedback from you folks about the pacing of the schedule. Would you like to view a movie once a week, once every two weeks, or what? Let me know either here, publicly, or memail me (or I'm on Twitter so I guess there's that).
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:20 AM on August 19, 2014


Okay let's "kick off" with viewing One Hour Photo, since the FanFare post is up today. Apologies for the short notice, kudos to the MeFi Horror Club and DirtyOldTown who posted.

Then I propose a straight chronological viewing:

- One Hour Photo (2002)
- Popeye (1980)
- The World According to Garp (1982)
- The Survivors (1983)
- Moscow on the Hudson (1984)
- The Best of Times (1986)
- Seize the Day (1986)
- Good Morning, Vietnam (1997)
- Dead Poet's Society (1989)
- Awakenings (1990)
- The Fisher King (1991)
- Hook (1991)
- Aladdin (1992)
- Toys (1992)
- Mrs. Doubfire (1993)
- Jumanji (1995)
- The Birdcage (1996)
- Jack (1996)
- Hamlet (1996)
- Good Will Hunting (1997)
- What Dreams May Come (1998)
- Jakob the Liar (1999)
- Bicentennial Man (1999)
- Death to Smoochy (2002)
- Insomnia (2002)
- Night at the Museum (2006)
- Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian(2009)
- World's Greatest Dad (2009)

I've added a few films. I may MeMail people directly to do posts as it's quite a lot for one person to take on.

The listing above is very much a flexible thing and not written in stone.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:20 AM on August 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


I meant to include: One Hour Photo is scheduled for 20th August, today (the post has yet to be published).

I'm working on the scheduling of the movies for the Robin Williams Movie Club. I'm leaning towards bi-weekly - any thoughts on the matter appreciated. It strikes me that weekly is too much, and every three or four weeks might be too far between viewings, but I'm open to suggestions.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:24 AM on August 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm happy to help out with some posting, jcifa. I think every other week sounds good.

Just saw the screening of Garp last night (on a scratchy old print -- I forgot what it was like to see one of those!) and I'm looking forward to talking about it (I have quibbles, but I think they're really more about the source material). I totally should have brought some kleenex with me to the theater.
posted by scody at 11:26 AM on August 20, 2014


Great! Could you be responsible for the FanFare post on Garp? I'm very much looking forward to it, too.

Do you know how to "wiki"? I understand it's fairly straight forward but I'm experiencing wiki-phobia and have been putting it off for the last fifteen minutes. Please MeMail me if you want to discuss!

We basically need to get an official "Robin Williams Movie Club" thing / page up, and I guess I need to post viewing dates here. I'm kind of working in a vacuum so an input is appreciated.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:30 AM on August 20, 2014


BREAKTHROUGH: I think I'm experiencing a wiki learning curve breakthrough - whooo!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:35 AM on August 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


OH BABY.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:38 AM on August 20, 2014


Sure, happy to do the Garp post. I'd also be up for posting Hamlet and Insomnia, and can take on a few others if need be. (I have no wiki skills to speak of, sadly, so can't help much on that score.)

Was there ever an officially released recording of his performance in Godot with Steve Martin?
posted by scody at 11:43 AM on August 20, 2014


Oh, thank you so much!

Scody-the-fantastic-volunteer: Garp, Hamlet, and Insomnia.

You're penciled in.

Dates of viewing to be posted shortly -watch this space.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:45 AM on August 20, 2014


The Robin Williams Movie Club schedule

It is roughly a bi-weekly schedule, always on a Saturday, with a few exceptions: One Hour Photo, the first movie, and some movies around the holidays (see below).

See also Upcoming Movies section in the FanFare wiki.

2014

* One Hour Photo for Wednesday, August 20 (cross-over movie for Horror Club and Robins Williams Movie Club)
Popeye for Saturday, August 23
* The World According to Garp for Saturday, September 6
The Survivors for Saturday, September 20
Moscow on the Hudson for Saturday, October 4
The Best of Times for Saturday, October 18
Seize the Day for Saturday, November 1
Good Morning, Vietnam for Saturday, November 15
Dead Poets Society for Wednesday, November 26
Awakenings for Saturday, December 13
The Fisher King for Tuesday, December 23

2015

Hook for Thursday, January 1 (New Year's Day)
Aladdin for Saturday, January 17
Toys for Saturday, January 31
Mrs. Doubtfire for Saturday, February 14 (Valentine's Day)
Jumanji for Saturday, February 28
The Birdcage for Saturday, March 14
Jack for Saturday, March 28
* Hamlet for Saturday, April 11
Good Will Hunting for Saturday, April 25
What Dreams May Come for Saturday, May 9
Jakob the Liar for Saturday, May 23
Bicentennial Man for Saturday, June 6
Death to Smoochy for Saturday, June 20
* Insomnia for Friday, July 3
Night at the Museum for Saturday, July 18
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian for Saturday, August 1
World's Greatest Dad for Saturday, August 15

* Volunteers have already offered to post to FanFare for these movies.

=====> Would you like to post to FanFare on one of the above movies? Do contact me via MeMail or post in this thread to reserve a movie, and I will put your name next to the movie at the FanFare wiki (linked above). I'll also keep track via a separate list for safekeeping.

It's a lot of fun, so do not hesitate if you're interested in volunteering! Otherwise I'm doing them all and while I do enjoy it, it is a lot to take on.

Note: there will be some (3, I think) upcoming movies released that have Robin Williams in them, including Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014). I haven't included those because I assume someone will post to FanFare on these, and we can just add a "RobinWilliamsMovieClub" tag to rope them into our club - best to cross that bridge when we come to it, I think.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 4:09 PM on August 20, 2014


I can post for some--obviously I'm way into Hook and Toys, but could do others too, if needed.
posted by leesh at 5:57 PM on August 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


leesh that's great! Can you do Hook, Toys, Jumanji?
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:25 PM on August 20, 2014


rue72 - Could you possibly take The Birdcage (Saturday, March 14) and Aladdin (Saturday, January 17)?
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:28 PM on August 20, 2014


Sure thing, putting them on my calendar now.
posted by leesh at 6:57 PM on August 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


rue72 - Could you possibly take The Birdcage (Saturday, March 14) and Aladdin (Saturday, January 17)?

Yup, got it!
posted by rue72 at 7:18 PM on August 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'd like to volunteer at this point for Good Will Hunting and Awakenings - two of my favorite Robin Williams movies.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:36 PM on August 20, 2014


I'm watching "The Survivors" right now, so I'll post that one on Sep 20th
posted by wabbittwax at 8:52 PM on August 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


That's very helpful - you're on the wiki now.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:30 PM on August 20, 2014


I can awakenings, good morning vietnam, and death to smoochy.
posted by miss-lapin at 3:21 AM on August 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


miss-lapin - that's great - if you can take Good Morning, Vietnam, and Death to Smoochy, that would be helpful! Thanks.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:38 AM on August 21, 2014 [1 favorite]


Pointer: One Hour Photo is up at FanFare.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:19 AM on August 21, 2014


Reminder: I'll be posting Popeye to FanFare tomorrow morning - let's hear your thoughts on this quirky Altman film.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:59 PM on August 22, 2014


Pointer: Popeye is now up.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:29 AM on August 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Pointer: The World According to Garp. Many thanks to scody for the terrific FanFare post!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:16 PM on September 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Pointer: The Survivors - shout-out to wabbittwax for volunteering with this post - well done!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:54 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


We had a deal, Kyle has volunteered for The Fisher King. Many thanks to all volunteers.

If you see a movie that you'd like to do that isn't taken, simply post a comment here, or send me a MeMail or a Tweet (details in my profile).
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:04 AM on September 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


I don't think anyone's put their hand up for What Dreams May Come yet; I'll give it a shot.
posted by Athanassiel at 8:41 AM on September 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Yay! I'll put you down, thank you for volunteering.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:04 AM on September 25, 2014


Also I just realised one I re-watched a little while ago, Dead Again (1991), isn't on the list. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are, respectively, a private detective and woman who's lost both voice and memory. Things are complicated by the growing hint that all this has happened before...Williams has a minor part as an ex-psychiatrist, but it's memorable! Derek Jacobi is also great, and Andy Garcia as well. If anyone else is interested in a re-watch, I'd be up for the post.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:26 AM on September 26, 2014


I love your enthusiasm, Athanassiel, but at this point I consider the list, and discussion about what to include on the list, closed. There are already quite a few titles on the list; if you want to volunteer for another one that's not spoken for (on the list above), that would be very helpful.

HOWEVER, I don't control what you do so go ahead and write up a FanFare post on this if you want to re-experience it and discuss it with others. I would be interested and take a look at what you've done and the resulting discussion, although I personally have no desire to sit through Dead Again again (heh).

(I saw it originally in the theater when it was released.)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:41 PM on September 26, 2014


Ok, fair enough. I am still figuring out how FanFare works so am bound to put my foot in it. I've already volunteered for what I can do which a) is scheduled for a time when I'll have reliable internet access and b) hasn't already been taken, so I'll leave it there.
posted by Athanassiel at 5:53 PM on September 27, 2014 [1 favorite]


Pointer: Moscow on the Hudson is up!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 2:30 PM on October 4, 2014


Pointer: The Best of Times is up - please join in the discussion.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:36 AM on October 18, 2014


Okay so I'd better make this explicit and official: we're not looking to add any movies to the schedule. If you've got a Robin Williams movie that you'd like to discuss at FanFare, and you don't see it on the schedule (above), please do go ahead and create a post for it. Ping me (by Twitter or MeMail) and I'll do everything I can to help promote it. But the movie viewing schedule for this endeavor is, at this point, locked.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:43 PM on October 29, 2014


Pointer: Seize the Day is up.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:04 PM on November 1, 2014


Pointer: Good Morning, Vietnam
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:44 AM on November 15, 2014


A bit early: Dead Poets Society
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:19 PM on November 25, 2014


Pointer: Awakenings - great job! Thanks miss-lapin.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:15 AM on December 21, 2014


Pointer: The Fisher King.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:27 AM on December 23, 2014


Pointer: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Since the above movie is current, I went ahead an posted it to FanFare; I'll tag it on at the end of our series and we can discuss then - or please do discuss now, if you wish!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 12:41 PM on December 29, 2014


"Then" = August 23, 2015 - be there or be square!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 1:51 PM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


Pointer: Hook (leesh did a flipping fantastic post, thanks for your work!)
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:04 PM on January 2, 2015


There's a slight delay with Aladdin - polish your mouse, hang in there, and your genie will appear shortly!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 5:58 PM on January 19, 2015


Pointer: Aladdin - great job and thank you for volunteering, rue72!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:34 PM on January 19, 2015


Pointer: Toys. Great job done by leesh!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 9:48 AM on January 31, 2015


Helllooooo!

Okay so I haven't forgotten about Mrs. Doubtfire - we'll get that published on FanFare ASAP! Thank you for your patience.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 3:08 PM on February 16, 2015


Thank you nubs! Mrs. Doubtfire is live!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:25 PM on February 16, 2015


Pointer: Jumanji. Freakin' fantastic post leesh!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:42 AM on February 28, 2015


Pointer: The Birdcage. Thanks rue72!
posted by nubs at 6:26 PM on March 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Pointer: Jack
posted by nubs at 7:33 AM on March 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


Great, great job on that post nubs. Thanks!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:49 PM on March 28, 2015


nubs will be taking over the organization of the Robin Williams Movie Club as we enter the "home stretch" - I am so glad as he'll do a great job as always. Take it away, nubs!
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 12:23 PM on March 29, 2015


Thanks for all the hard work getting this far, joesph conrad is fully awesome! You did all the work getting it organized and started, which means it is smooth sailing the rest of the way.

Speaking of the rest of the way, here's what the remaining schedule looks like according to the wiki:

Hamlet Saturday, April 11
Good Will Hunting Saturday, April 25 - joseph conrad is fully awesome
What Dreams May Come Saturday, May 9 - Athanassiel
Jakob the Liar Saturday, May 23 - nubs
Bicentennial Man Saturday, June 6 - nubs
Death to Smoochy Saturday, June 20 - miss-lapin
Insomnia Friday, July 3
Night at the Museum Saturday, July 18
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Saturday, August 1
World's Greatest Dad Saturday, August 15

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb already posted - discussion date for the Robin William Movie Club: Saturday, August 23

I don't mind filling in for those spots where we don't have someone already signed up to take the lead on the post, but if anyone wants to step up and grab any of these, I'm not going to fight you.

I'm also leaning towards exercising my newfound power (evil laugh) and swapping out "World's Greatest Dad" for "Man of the Year", but wanted to see if there's any strong feelings about that. I don't really want to add titles to the list; organization for this started last August and we're watching films into this August, which I think is as long as a project like this can reasonably go.
posted by nubs at 2:06 PM on March 29, 2015


Pointer - Hamlet
posted by nubs at 6:30 AM on April 11, 2015


Pointer - Good Will Hunting
posted by nubs at 10:26 AM on April 25, 2015


Ok, so time for some changes and updates.

Boulevard, Robin William's last movie, will be going into general release on July 17, and I think it should be included in this list. Therefore, the final few films are being adjusted - I'm removing the Night at the Smithsonian films to include Boulevard and Man of the Year, so the final schedule now looks like this:

What Dreams May Come Saturday, May 9 - Athanassiel
Jakob the Liar Saturday, May 23 - nubs
Bicentennial Man Saturday, June 6 - nubs
Death to Smoochy Saturday, June 20 - miss-lapin
Insomnia Friday, July 3
Boulevard Saturday, July 18
Man of the Year Saturday, August 1
World's Greatest Dad Saturday, August 15


The films in bold currently have no one who has volunteered to lead the posting; if you would like to take one on, then please let me know either in this thread or via MeMail.
posted by nubs at 10:33 AM on April 25, 2015


Pointer: What Dreams May Come. Fantastic post Athanassiel!
posted by nubs at 11:59 AM on May 8, 2015


Pointer: The new Robin Williams Movie Club page.
posted by nubs at 9:12 AM on May 24, 2015


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