Summer School (1987) - February 8, 2022

[D00mM4r1n3]

Originally Posted by meremortal

Really, full nudity on network tv? I still remember the outrage when Dennis Franz showed his butt on NYPD Blue in the 90s.

There was a TV show call "Bizarre" hosted by John Byner in the early 80's that frequently featured topless women, he even made fun of the fact with an episode or two featuring an outraged women's rights activist that got topless. It aired on a few broadcast TV stations that carried Showtime content. Coincidentally, it also was the first show I know of that had Super Dave stunts; Bob Einstein was a producer of the show. There's a few DVD compilations available.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

Dazed and Confused and Summer School are the best high school films ever imo, it's not even close

Can't agree on Dazed. Boring and uneventful movie. IMO.

It's rare for me to find this kind of coming of age movie to be completely uninteresting. Nobody was appealing.

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

Can't agree on Dazed. Boring and uneventful movie. IMO.

I actually used to have a very similar opinion on Dazed, so I definitely relate. Over time my opinion of Dazed has changed drastically. Likewise I used to hold a film like Fast Times a lot higher, but when I watch it now it feels like a big screen sitcom treatment of what high school is like. I quite enjoy when my opinions on a film changes organically over the years.

[Matt89]

Man, I LOVE Dazed and Confused, it's one of the few Linklater films I actually like lol. I don't know if I'd rank Summer School as high as Fast Times, but that's just me. I think Fast Times is the greatest teen comedy ever made. It's much more intelligent and insightful in regards to teenage life and the high school experience than it gets credit for IMO. Cameron Crowe wrote an amazing screenplay.

~Matt

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Telemachus

I actually used to have a very similar opinion on Dazed, so I definitely relate. Over time my opinion of Dazed has changed drastically. Likewise I used to hold a film like Fast Times a lot higher, but when I watch it now it feels like a big screen sitcom treatment of what high school is like. I quite enjoy when my opinions on a film changes organically over the years.

I don't expect every teen movie to be a perfect representation. It is a dramedy after all. It's just more entertaining and a better cast to me.

[Vincent Dawn]

I never thought of comparing Dazed and Confused with Summer School. Dazed seemed like Linklater doing his version of American Graffiti (both take place over the course of a single day). I could see Fast Times being compared with Dazed and American Graffiti: they don't really have a lead protagonist but multiple storylines with different leads.

I get why we're making the comparison because they're all fun high school comedies. But Harmon being the main character makes Summer School an outlier. You don't typically see the teacher getting the lead role. Summer School definitely ranks up there with my favorites from this genre along with The Breakfast Club and the others that were mentioned.

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by Vincent Dawn

But Harmon being the main character makes Summer School an outlier. You don't typically see the teacher getting the lead role. Summer School definitely ranks up there with my favorites from this genre along with The Breakfast Club and the others that were mentioned.

It's true, a faculty member is the main character, and two others have supporting roles, but for some reason I never see it that way when I watch or think about this one. They were able to make it just as much about the kids imo, it sorta feels like a "we're all in this together" type of story. That's where some of these movies lack, they treat the adult characters like the parents in a Peanut cartoon (Fast Times does this, save Mr. Hand). Masterful character juggling in Summer School, true assemble cast, in some ways it still gives me that feeling the Breakfast Club gives me at the end, same with Dazed. The ending of Fast Times is really funny, and I always laugh a lot, but it feels a bit empty compared to movies like these, they just have "a kind of magic" that you can't explain, and it's one reason they have aged better than the others. Some of the John Hughes movies make me cringe now (Ferris Bueller looking at you), but Weird Science and Breakfast Club definitely aren't two of them.

[ProfProlific]

Regarding the review for the Summer School blu ray release, I didn’t agree with the 3.5, yeah it looks great, but I think it looks tremendous, not a 3.5, maybe a 4.

[Tardo317]

Originally Posted by Vincent Dawn

Dazed seemed like Linklater doing his version of American Graffiti (both take place over the course of a single day).

Wholeheartedly agree with this statement.

[Russhole]

Happy 35th Anniversary!

[Cruel Angel]

Fright Rags are releasing this one for the anniversary:

[Show spoiler]

[JurassicBD]

We watched this last night. I probably hadn't seen it since vhs, as I can't remember ever buying it on dvd. I have no reason to doubt that it's the best the film has ever looked on home video, considering its very low-quality competition. It certainly wasn't one of the worst BDs I've seen in that it wasn't too noticeably scrubbed or excessively enhanced. Yet the master does look pretty dated; I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching a budget Mill Creek or Kino release at a Criterion price. The movie still held up pretty well, though I'd question whether or not they could get a PG13 rating today.

[Telemachus]

Looks like this might be OOP, prices starting to go crazy

[Somebuddy]

How would this be OOP?

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by Somebuddy

How would this be OOP?

Probably just a supply chain issue, or it is awaiting a repressing. Shout still sells it direct on their website, and it wouldn't be the first time this has happened with a Shout release.

[Telemachus]

Okay I was lucky enough to find a Summer School DVD (Life's a Beach edition). The mono from the DVD is the same as the 2.0 track on the Shout Blu ray, both are 2.0 mono, but the DVD correctly snaps into the center channel in Pro Logic mode. The Shout seems to have some sort of stereoization that goes into all the other channels in Pro Logic, though it does just seem like the mono feed at a much reduced volume, the DVD is labeled as having AC-3 encoding for the mono track and perhaps the Shout lost it. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally for surround modes or is a glitch or what.

[meremortal]

Audio's still one of the big what if's of physical media since hardly anyone ever challenges the sources and mastering. They could essentially just release anything they have with a DTS-HD container and only a small handful of internet diehards might notice issues. It seems like studios feel that as long as they include the bare minimum of lossless audio then they've done their part even if the original track is not included, a multi-channel mix may deviate a good bit from the older stereo/mono, or current tracks could potentially be inferior to previous format releases.

It also appears very few have noticed mono tracks that were supposed to be stereo, etc. There's little transparency it seems on the audio front regarding source. When even boutiques like Criterion have recycled old dvd era tracks, it's tough to know which blu and uhd have proper archival tracks. And also agree with the comment about pre-social media era commentary tracks seeming a bit 'better' back then for studio releases. People used to love doing them for the joy of talking about the projects and the crew/locations. Even many cult boutique releases have had to resort to 'fan' and 'film historian' type tracks just to get people on board over the last few years.

[Telemachus]

Originally Posted by meremortal

It also appears very few have noticed mono tracks that were supposed to be stereo, etc. There's little transparency it seems on the audio front regarding source. When even boutiques like Criterion have recycled old dvd era tracks, it's tough to know which blu and uhd have proper archival tracks.

After some more testing, I don't think I can be certain about this Shout 2.0. The Summer School DVD playing in 2.0 mode is a mono track in each channel, confirmed by Pro Logic. The Shout is weird in Pro Logic, but it's not matrix stereo surround. The Shout seems similar but the DVD is quite a bit louder initially. Maybe Shout volume matched each track on their disc, but then that could mean it was a mono fold and it wasn't flagged right to come out of the center channel on an AVR, I dunno. They both have the same 5.1 track which sounds identical volume and all LFE activity and all, wouldn't surprise me if this isn't a real lossless mix and was just slapped in the container. I guess I should just listen to the 5.1 mix incase the 2.0 is a fold from Shout, that seems worse to view it in.

I unfortunately can't get my AVR to play the Shout 2.0 nice in the center channel for Pro Logic, it just sounds off with the other speakers getting some tiny sort of signal (it is not typical surround matrix at all). But running a phantom center with the Shout 2.0 mix sounds good, though again if it's a fold little point.

I also recently figured out Point Break has the exact same Dolby Stereo track the DVD had, so it seems like Shout is actually getting original tracks these days on most discs.

Originally Posted by meremortal

And also agree with the comment about pre-social media era commentary tracks seeming a bit 'better' back then for studio releases. People used to love doing them for the joy of talking about the projects and the crew/locations.

I think because they were fun to do in those days, and it was more like spitballing in person with friends only mics were on, the crew/actors recording the tracks knew only fans were going to even listen to it there was no reason to be guarded. Now anything can be a PR disaster or go viral because drama is farmed by non-fans, very few people want to be themselves anymore in public statements or while being recorded, and the loudest people are usually the fakest people by my experience because they are saying things they know are okay to say. That's why I never believe "drama" now it's all approved to come out most of the time, so everyone is literally an actor current day.

[meremortal]

For heck's sake. They can include 5 alternate audio tracks if they want, but at least include the original mix.

[IndyMLVC]

It's so amazing to me that movies in the late 80's were still being mixed in mono.