The Cap'n Presents His Mixed Tape Film Series Manifesto.

At the risk of making new enemies and alienating people (and really, since the Cap'n is leaving soon anyway, does it really matter?), I've decided I can no longer idly sit by year after year and not say something about the The Mixed Tape Film Series, because while I understand what the programmers are trying to do, it's often maddening how safe and obvious their choices are. Moreover, there's evidence that every now and then they have a flair for "outside of the box" films, which makes the predictability of the bulk of their picks all the more frustrating.

Look, I understand that people love The Big Lebowski. I love The Big Lebowski. I saw it when it ran the first time. This August will mark the THIRD year in a row it's opened The Mixed Tape Film Series. If that's going to be your tradition, then cool, but it's not as though the Coen brothers don't have other excellent comedies that people maybe don't know as well (or that they do; Raising Arizona, for crying out loud!)


Year after year, the Cap'n looks at the lineups at The Carousel and I usually say "meh." It's nothing against the movies being shown, but 90% of the time I a) own the movies or b) saw them the first time they ran. Nostalgia's not a big factor for me, and while there's a tiny allure in seeing actual prints of the film, it's not enough to get me to shell out cash for something I can watch any time for free and / or already saw on the big screen.

I worked for a movie theatre. I own actual trailers (and some fun ones at that: as a gift, I once gave away 35mm trailers for Dancer in the Dark and what's probably a fairly rare teaser for House of 1000 Corpses back before Universal dropped the film), and I get that it's cool to see the real deal and not just DVD or BD's at home. But for some reason The Mixed Tape Film Series just doesn't do it for me, and I think I know why.

Slight digression: While this is comparing apples to oranges, I feel like the Cap'n should express that I feel at least a little qualified to talk about film programming. I put together anywhere from three to five free film festivals a year, and I think carefully about the movies I'm going to show. The goal is almost always to find a healthy balance between what people want to see and what they never knew they'd love. It doesn't always work, and while I'd say that next week's Summerfest is the safest I've ever played it, there are still movies I'm showing that may never be part of a "Midnight Madness" series (but easily could be, which is part of why I take umbrage with the programming year in and year out).

I get that it's popular, and there's a very good reason why: the programmers are offering cinematic comfort food. The biggest problem I have is that the films showing time and time again are the obvious choices. Yes, you're guaranteed to have an audience turn out for a movie every single one of them knows, even if it's being shown again and again (which, admittedly, is a good business model), except that at a certain point the nostalgia factor wears off and the incoming flux of college freshmen can't sustain this.

The Mixed Tape Film Series is in its third year (as best as I can tell), so let's take a look at what they've been showing:

Year One: The Big Lebowski, Reservoir Dogs, The Monster Squad, Friday the 13th Part 3, Rushmore, Edward Scissorhands, Labyrinth (without a "The", go check), Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Oldboy, Riki Oh: The Story or Ricky, Blue Velvet.

Year Two: The Big Lebowski, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Karate Kid, Ghostbusters, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Gremlins, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Clerks, Fight Club, Amelie, The Princess Bride, Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Robocop, The Goonies.

Year Three (coming soon): The Big Lebowski, The Breakfast Club, Say Anything, 10 Things I Hate About You, Heathers, Donnie Darko, Rosemary's Baby, The Fly, The Silence of the Lambs, Army of Darkness, A Hard Day's Night, Rock 'N Roll High School, Purple Rain, A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Die Hard, American Beauty, Seven, Boogie Nights, The Crow, Groundhog Day, Dirty Dancing, Harold and Maude, The Color Purple, Do the Right Thing, Labyrinth (again, no "The"), The Neverending Story, Willow, Legend, The Dark Crystal, Dumb and Dumber, Happy Gilmore, Kingpin, Wayne's World, Back to the Future.

If you hadn't noticed, the upcoming Mixed Tape Series is broken into "theme" cycles, like "Back to School," "Horror Classics," "Films that Rock," "Holiday Classics," "90s Classics," "Valentines / Black History," "80s Fantasy Classics," and "April Fool's Comedies." (Transformers: The Movie should be in there somewhere, but I'm going by their official listings).

The first year had some pretty nice curveballs in there, but since then it's been a steady decline into "mass appeal" territory. That being said, I know people who are planning to go to these movies, and good for them. About half are too young to have seen the films the first time, and the other half are nostalgic, so that plays right into the earlier points. Got it.

That being said, there's not one movie in the upcoming year's lineup that I desperately need to see on the big screen. Eventually, more people are going to feel the same way; the cinephiles first, then slowly but surely the general populace, and I'd rather that not happen*.

As I said before, it isn't as though they couldn't (or haven't branched out): despite a fondness for showing Tommy Wiseau's The Room repeatedly, the guys at The Movie Show have also put together the Midnight Madness series (including Summer 'Camp' Classics and Summer Scare-Ousel festivals) which feature a slightly more eclectic lineup.

(Well, okay, not exactly: the Summer 'Camp' Classics consists of Showgirls, The Warriors, The Room, and Predator. I'll grant you the first three, and I understand that Predator is being tied into the release of Predators, but come on. There are much better "camp" classics out there. Xanadu? Forbidden Zone? Cherry 2000? Geez, even Plan 9 from Outer Space is a better fit for this series. Please don't get me started on the Horror one. Kudos for The Brood, but that's about it.)

In the past, they've hosted showings of Troll 2, Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, Sleepaway Camp, Audition and Pieces. Three years ago, The Carolina Theatre had "Grindhouse Double Feature" Fridays (which I believe was tied in some way to The Movie Show) that branched out and introduced audiences to movies they wouldn't see otherwise. It's quite do-able, so why does this feel like the exception and not the norm?

Here's one thing I wondered after perusing The Movie Show's blog: the writers are clearly advocating that more people see movies that didn't get a fair shake the first time around (Grindhouse, Hot Rod, The Fountain), so why aren't you showing them? It's nothing new for film fans (and bloggers) to be passionate about films they think people would love, but the folks involved in The Mixed Tape Film Series are at a distinct advantage: they can actually make that happen.

But they don't, and I have to stress my disappointment with going for the easy draws. There's an opportunity here to develop something like what goes on at The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin (which is certainly what these events are reminiscent of) where the popular films are more regularly interspersed with movies that don't get that kind of attention but should. After three years, you'd think they'd be more comfortable branching out, but instead it's starting to look like The Carolina Theatre's Summer lineup: predictable and mostly miss-able.

It sounds like I'm bagging on the programmers (who I'm intentionally not calling out by name because I don't know them, they don't know me, and there's no reason to get personal here), and in some ways I am. Clearly they're capable of being more adventurous, and I really wish they would be. The Mixed Tape Film Series and the Midnight Madness Series could be more than they are, and to really build up a loyal and consistent audience over the years, it pays to give them what they want to see AND introduce them to new or "lost" films that keep them excited for the next screening. They can do it, so hopefully this serves as a motivator to do it and not the ramblings of some jaded film geek. Win me over, because I feel like you certainly could.


* Allow me to make my case: since you've already shown Labyrinth, allow me to suggest four perfectly viable alternatives that fit the "theme" - The Last Unicorn, The Secret of Nimh, Time Bandits, and Return to Oz. All equally regarded but often less seen movies that yeah, I'd pay to see projected in a theatre.